Perfect for You
by BlueRain26
Summary: Finn can be overprotective, but Kurt deals with it because they're basically family now. Finn/Kurt, better description inside!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but my ideas and any OCs...Glee belongs to Fox

**Rating:** T for now... maybe M later :) mostly Kurt\Finn, just a warning I will be taking maybe a more slow approach to their relationship, be patient it will be cute and fun! ^_^

**A/N: **Well, it's my first Glee fic... be nice! haha seriously though, I'm trying hard to write a good fic here, comments would be nice. Enjoy and if you want me to continue, REVIEW! I want to know what you all think and like most authors, I need encouragement and such to get me to keep posting :) :) Thank you muchly for reading!

**Chapter One**

_~~~~++++ Snow and wind flailed about in a dizzy frenzy as Finn Hudson fishtailed his truck as he pulled into the Hummel's driveway. Kurt had been in and out of school the past few weeks, ignoring Finn in the hallways and not responding to txts or phone calls anyone else made to him. Although he couldn't really describe it, Finn knew there was just something wrong about today. Something in his gut had crawled up his spine and was pulling at the back of his mind, it wouldn't leave him alone. True, it wasn't like he actually paid attention in some...well, most of his classes, but this feeling made it hard just to get through the normally uneventful 40 minutes he spent in each class._

_ Practically leaping out of the truck, Finn tried running to the front door, praying it would be unlocked, and slipping on the icy driveway. Burt Hummel was out of town, gone with Finn's Mom Carole on some sort of trip where they could enjoy each other without the pressures of having teenagers...whatever that meant. Luckily, the front door swung open as Finn turned the doorknob, and Finn swore that if he saw Kurt down in his room performing his daily skin ritual, this would be the first and only time he wouldn't be annoyed with him for leaving the door unlocked. Finn called Kurt's name as he ran into the kitchen area, hoping to find a note on the counter stating that Kurt was just out to get a few things and not to freak out. Finn heard no response to his calls, and no note on the counter. Finn ran down the stairs to the basement, a.k.a Kurt's Mancave as Finn had to referred to it one night after too much vodka. Again, he called for Kurt, but no one was in the room, and the bathroom door was wide open, with no occupants. _

_ Racing over to Kurt's dresser, Finn knew exactly what to look for. Opening the drawer that held Kurt's various scarves, Finn began to pick apart the neatly folded piles, still in the back of his head hoping he would hear Kurt come down stairs and scream at the atrocious mess Finn was making, threatening to kick his ass and trying to push Finn aside to fix the problem, and Finn laughing at his attempts to move him considering he was quite larger than the smaller soprano. Finn's heart stopped when he didn't find what he was looking for. _Shit, _Finn thought. _Of all the things you could have done to me, why pick this?_ Finn vowed to give Kurt a serious beating for putting him through all this emotional stress. _

_ Finn was looking for one scarf in particular, one that he had given Kurt for his birthday. It was two shades of red, darker fading into lighter with red stripes on the end. Kurt said it was the best gift, even with the horrible stripes sticking out like Celine Dion would if she had auditioned for the musical "The Color Purple". Finn had laughed about it, until Kurt showed him a picture of a small, soft looking boy in the arms of a beautiful woman. _"My Mom," _Kurt had explained, pointing to the woman. _"She was never good at sewing, but she made me that scarf I'm wearing in the picture...It was like her way of saying, 'I'm not perfect, but here you go anyway.' " _Both shared a laugh, and Finn looked at the boy with a big smile, wearing a red scarf in the picture. Kurt said he would wear the scarf whenever he went back to the old nature trail the picture was taken in, it would help him revisit his bright red past he had said._

_ Finn snapped out of his momentary lapse of attention and went over to the bookshelf, grabbing the photo album Kurt had shown him the picture from and opened it to the page the picture still stood, Kurt and his mother, smiling back at Finn. Behind them was a sign for the main entrance of the trails, a strong river racing just off to the side of them. Shutting the book quickly and throwing it on Kurt's bed with his scarves still laying askew, Finn rushed back upstairs, bolting out the front door (and not locking it, it didn't matter,) and jumping back into his truck and driving to the site from the picture, running two red lights on the way, _Thank God the cops aren't out,_ Finn thought as he pulled up to the nature trail and got out of his truck, leaving the keys in the ignition and the lights on. Finn passed the main entrance sign and began running down a straight back, barely able to make out a set of tracks in the snow. Being the only tracks in this horrid weather, he assumed, more so hoped they were Kurt's, since he couldn't imagine anyone else wanting to walk the trails in this snow storm. Finn followed the tracks to a sign that read: _TRAIL BLOCKED OFF! Entrance to river, authorized personnel only! _Looking around briefly, Finn saw some of the low hanging branches and brush had been moved ever so slightly from their original positions, the tracks going through the newly made trail. _God Dammit, Kurt!_ Finn cursed as he followed the new trail, running and leaping over fallen trees and random bushes. _You couldn't just be your normal self and think about what all this nature would do to your complexion? _Finn's pace quickened to a sprint when he heard the sounds of the river, still running strong in these freezing temperatures. He finally broke into a clearing, coming to a slippery halt in the snow as he took in the scene around him._

_ There was the snow, still falling and being blown around by the wind, causing Finn to squint to get clear visibility. The river had frozen over in small parts, the strong ice was being separated and carried away by the river which flowed slower than it would on a normal windy day, but still dangerously fast for anyone who was thinking about admiring it's beauty and power. And there was Kurt...standing on a rock that jutted out from the water a good distance away from shore, causing Finn to wonder how Kurt had jumped that far. Wearing a hat, a peacoat, his signature skinny jeans with black boots, and the signature scarf Finn had given him, Kurt looked up at Finn when he heard his name being called by the quarterback. Kurt's eyes were read and puffy, the trails of his tears that were still flowing freely from his beautiful eyes leading down his soft face. His scarf being whipped about by the wind, Kurt stood idly on his thrown, staring at Finn with his piercing gaze._

"Kurt!" _Finn yelled, the wind causing him to inhale harshly, it was colder than he thought. _"Come on, Kurt, this isn't funny anymore!" _Kurt had no response except to look down at his boots, Finn using this opportunity to inch closer to the river's edge, extending his hand to Kurt, a silent tear falling from his eye as he looked at his friend. _"I know you don't think I understand what you are going through, but I do! I know exactly what you're going through because I put you through it!" _Tears were flowing freely now from Finn's eyes, his hand tingling from the cold and from the tenseness of the situation as he reached his arm further out to Kurt. _"Just get the hell back over here so we can go home and talk about this away from all this!"

_ Kurt shot a look at Finn, his eyes narrowed and tears flowing like Niagara Falls. Kurt's mouth was moving, but Finn couldn't hear anything he was saying, yet he could understand his feelings as if he already knew what he was saying._

"Look-I don't know what you trying to prove here," _Finn shook his head as more tears came. _"But I can't do this anymore!" _Kurt's eyes widened at Finn's sudden burst of emotion. _"You know how I feel, you know who I really am, and you know I would throw everything away to make things right!...But I can't make anything right with you running away from me all the time! So, please... just come over here..." _Finn held out his hand at it's farthest length. Kurt made to grab for his hand, but stopped momentarily, hesitating. _"Please!" _Finn begged, his voice echoing as he held out his hand again. Kurt slowly inched forward, reaching our his hand, fingers clumsily trying to grasp Finn's. _"Careful-Shit!"_ Finn cursed as Kurt slipped slightly, regaining his balance. _"Ok look, just slowly come towards me, jump and I'll catch you...Kurt, you have to jump," _Finn saw the horror in Kurt's eyes at the mention of jumping. _"I promise I'll catch you. Trust me, I won't let anything happen to you.. just take it slow, I'm right here, waiting to catch you and bring you out of this hell you're in." _Kurt inched slowly forward, Finn coaxing him along the way, all the while bracing himself to catch the small boy and bring him to safety. Kurt was almost to the edge of the large rock, ready to jump, jump into Finn's arms where they could figure out this damn mess together..._

_ Kurt made to jump, but slipped at the last minute, his arms flailing around, further throwing off his balance. _"No!" _Finn yelled, stepping one foot into the icy water that filled his sneaker instantly, and reaching out to Kurt, grabbing whatever he could, an arm, a hand, a shoulder... or a scarf. Finn yanked the scarf, hoping the sudden shift would be enough to send Kurt falling into his arms..._

_...In a flash, the scarf unwrapped, Kurt hadn't really used it properly for the first time in...ever. Kurt wheeled back, and for once, Finn heard the noise coming from Kurt's mouth. He was screaming. Screaming as he fell backward, falling hard on the rock and very quickly sliding into the river, Finn yelling at the top of his lungs, as if trying to overpower Kurt's own screams. Finn rushed into the river, screaming Kurt's name, and holding tightly to scarf that had come off in his hands. He searched frantically for the small figure, but the river was even beginning to tug at Finn's strong stance in the shallows. Finn screamed for Kurt, feeling pathetic as if that was the only thing he could do while Kurt was hurting or possibly dead. Finn screamed Kurt's name one last time louder than ever, before a feeling of icy cold enveloped his entire body... ++++~~~~_

Finn shot up from the bed in the nurse's office, gasping for air. He was sweating out of control, his breath shallow and somewhat wheezy. The nurse rushed over to him at the sudden noise.

"Finn-Finn! Honey, what's wrong, can you breathe?" The nurse was panicked, but Finn just took a couple deep breaths, coughing here and there from his almost choking. "There you go, just take it easy..." the nurse patted Finn on the back, fanning herself as she calmed down, grateful a student hadn't gone into cardiac arrest on her watch.

"I'm fine... bad dream..." Finn managed to sputter out between breaths. The nurse just nodded, putting a thermometer in his mouth to take his temperature.

"You do have a bit of a fever... how do you feel?" The nurse squinted at Finn, as if she was giving him the once-over.

"Like death warmed up in a volcano," Finn stated bluntly. "I think I need to go home."

"Well, is your mother at work? I could call her to come pick you up, maybe you could call one of your Glee friends and have them drive your car home for you?" The nurse walked over to her telephone.

"What time is it? How long was I sleeping?"

"Oh honey, school let out over an hour ago... don't worry, that nice Kurt boy stopped by to give me your homework from the classes you missed."

_Yeah, because that is the first thing on my mind right now..._ Finn though, but smiled as best he could as he got up and gathered his things.

"Mom is out of town," Finn said, dryly, trying to shake off the creepy detail from the dream he just had. "I'll be fine driving myself," he said, trying to put the nurse's nerves at rest. "I just need to go home."

The nurse nodded and smiled, telling him to drive safe and to pull over if he had to vomit. Finn tried to smile and nodded before heading out to his truck. The air outside was cool, and it felt good against Finn face and clothes that he had been sweating in. It also meant that winter was coming soon, causing Finn to shiver and fell hollow inside as he approached his truck and climbed in the driver's seat. Turning the engine over, he backed out of the parking lot and drove slowly over to the Hummel's house. Technically, since their parents were together, it was just as much Finn's house as it was Kurt's... but Finn never mentioned that out of fear of being selfish.

Pulling in the driveway, Finn saw Kurt's "baby" parked by the garage, he was home safe at least. Finn turned off his truck and sat there, staring at the steering wheel for what seemed like forever before slamming his palms into the horn, which went off with a blaring brassy sound, like when Mercedes was belting her face off is what Finn likened it most to. The tears seemed to come in buckets, falling down Finn's face as he slammed his fists into the steering wheel of his truck, the intensity of his dream was just too much to handle right now. He sat for five minutes crying alone in his truck before gathering his stuff and heading up to the front door. It was unlocked, Finn flinched a little as he opened it and stepped inside.

"Kurt?" he called to see if Kurt was nearby.

"In the living room!" Kurt's voice called back, and Finn sighed, relief washing over him. He took off his sneakers and walked over to the living room where he found Kurt lying on the couch, wrapped in a rather large blanket watching the large screen TV.

"Your horn subtly gave you away," Kurt smiled, his dry sense of humor causing Finn to give his usual crooked smile. "What took you so long to get in here, Hudson? Did you have to plow through the end field just to get to the front door?" Finn chuckled, wiping his eyes, forgetting he had been crying earlier, luckily, there were only the few beginnings of new tears he had to wipe away. Of course, Kurt noticed. "What happened? You look like you've been hit by a truck and had your body tossed into the river." Finn flinched at the mention of a river, stumbling back just slightly. Again, Kurt's talent for being astute caused him to stand immediately when Finn stumbled. Kurt was barefoot, and dressed way down from what he normally wore at school. It was Friday leading into a long weekend after all, so Kurt decided on wearing the only pair of sweatpants he owned, and an old hoody of Finn's that no longer fit him. Finn saw the worry in Kurt's eyes but he threw up a hand saying, "I'm fine, really, just a little dizzy...Oh, Kurt-" he sighed in frustration as Kurt grabbed his arm and motioned for the couch.

"Sit your ass down, Finn Hudson," Kurt had a slight bit of demand in his voice. "Why you didn't call me to pick you up from school is beyond me, but I'm grateful you at least made it home safe. Now that you are, I must say that you are not in your right mind for another mysterious reason you care not to explain. So you can keep your damn secrets, but you will do as I say and sit down or I will have to sedate you using any blunt object I can find." Finn sighed again and sat down on the couch, moving the blanket away from him, giving Kurt the "are you happy now?" look. Kurt's expression softened a little, and he sat down next to Finn, reaching over to feel his forehead.

"Already took my temperature," Finn said quickly, turning away. "102.4 ... why was the front door unlocked? You know that ticks me off-" He tried to change the subject but Kurt was insistent on finding out on his own what Finn's state was, he didn't trust anyone who wore white after Labor Day.

"You're burning up," Kurt said as he took Finn's socks off and began to drape the heavy blanket over the quarterback. "Dude," Finn tried to push the blanket away. "If I'm so hot, adding more layers is not going to help!"

"Take off your shirt." Kurt said suddenly and bluntly.

"Wha-What?" Finn stuttered. "Dude, I thought we talked about this-"

"Shut up!" Kurt said, now he was a bit agitated. "We have 'talked about this' but this is not 'this'."

"Uh..." Finn said obviously lost. Kurt sighed and held up the blanket.

"Everyone knows that when you have a fever, the best way to get it all out of your system is to sweat it out. If you are hot now, take off your sweatshirt, and get under this. A few minutes under this blanket, and you will knock this thing out of you."

"Oh...I... should have though about...sorry." Finn was pretty inarticulate when he felt that he had jumped down Kurt's throat about the whole taking off his shirt and him being in love with Finn thing. "I know you were just trying to-"

"Forget it," Kurt said looking away. "Just do what I tell you without assuming I'm trying to get in your pants. We are practically brothers now, I thought I could at least try to help you when you were feeling like crap..."

Finn took off his sweatshirt, he had a t-shirt on under that and pulled the blanket up over his shoulders as Kurt instructed, feeling worse as his body temperature rose and he started sweating again.

"Sorry for being disgusting and sweaty..." He tried to sound as sincere as he could.

"Forget about it, Hudson," Kurt rested a hand on Finn's shoulder, but quickly withdrew it. "Just trying to make sure you get the same treatment your mother would give you...at least the best I can do, with her off having a mid-life galavant with my dad." Finn gave a short laugh and shifted his weight on the couch, trying to find the impossible comfortable spot. Kurt, noticing, put a pillow on his lap. "Here big boy," Kurt said, patting the pillow. Finn looked a little reserved, but Kurt just tried to smile as best he could. "I have a nice manly movie in the player, I was waiting for you to get home to watch it. Unless you would rather nap here I can go downstairs and watch it."

Finn didn't know how he kept reverting to his old self, the guy who thought Kurt had some agenda to get in his pants. Sometimes he could think Kurt was the most amazing guy he had every been friends with, other times he just seemed to shy away and it was all very confusing for Finn. He knew now though that Kurt was just genuinely concerned, as any brother would be, and Finn was still a bit shaken from his dream he had earlier. Finn, without hesitating, laid his head on the pillow in Kurt's lap, and looked up at Kurt, smiling.

"Press the play button before I have to guess what movie it is, I want to be surprised."

Kurt smiled, and pressed play. Finn's face literally did one of those sitcom moment faces, where it turned from happiness to horror in about 5 seconds.

" 'The Sound of Music' ?" Finn almost wailed. "That's the manly movie you were talking about?"

"It's just a preview tiger, calm down." Kurt laughed, gently putting his hands in Finn's hair.

The DVD Menu for _Braveheart _came on to the large screen, and Finn's face instantly lit up.

"Oh yeah! I love this movie! Great choice, dude!" Finn snuggled closer to Kurt in excitement for the movie to start. "Who knew they would have a preview for 'The Sound of Music' on the Braveheart DVD?"

"Why else do you think I chose this movie?" Kurt said sarcastically. "Best 2 and a half minutes of my night just happened before this menu popped up." Finn smiled up at him. "So I'm a sucker for a sweet love story and men in full mooning...sue me." Kurt said, tugging at Finn's hair. Finn laughed, an actual laugh for the first time that day. Kurt pressed the "Play" button and as the screen grew dark as the movie began, Finn noticed that Kurt's hand was moving from Finn's hair to his be placed on his shoulder, then it wandered quickly away from that to try sit at an angle for Kurt's head to rest upon.

"Um... actually, can you put your hands back where they were...?" Finn asked, hesitantly. Kurt looked down at Finn, eyes narrowed slightly. "It's just, Quinn used to put her hands in my hair and rub my head when I was sick and it felt good..." Finn heard Kurt scoff and he couldn't help but feel warm inside when he finished his thought. "...but it feels better when you do it." Finn felt Kurt's body get a little tense after that...but eventually he relaxed and placed his hands back to running through Finn's hair. "There, happy now?" Kurt asked sarcastically.

"Yes." Finn snuggled a little closer and smiled.

"Good, now shut up the movie is actually starting now." Kurt said. Finn chuckled and reached over with his hand and gently swatted Kurt's leg, while Kurt, almost instinctively, gave Finn's hair a slight tug. "Bad Finn." Kurt said dryly.

"Hey! I didn't deserve-" Finn was cut off as Kurt removed his hands from Finn's hair and place a finger to his lips, pressing the "Pause" button on the remote.

"Here's the deal, Hudson," Kurt muttered. "I am trying to watch this movie. You talk and I will not be giving you this free head rub that I normally charge for. Got the picture?" he felt Finn nod, Kurt's finger still on his lips, he still felt a chuckle escape Finn. "What?" Kurt asked, taking his finger away.

"You charge for a head rub..." Finn chuckled again. "You slut..." Kurt gave an "ugh!" and lightly slapped the side of Finn's face as Finn laughed under his breath.

"You're impossible, Finn Hudson," Kurt said. "Maybe I will just go for a walk and let you watch this alone."

Finn instantly flashed back to his dream, Kurt walking away, Kurt walking far away, Kurt being beyond his reach. Without even knowing it, he reached out his hands and held Kurt in his place on the couch.

"No," Finn said, Kurt detecting a slight plea in his voice. "Please stay, I'll be quiet I promise. Just, please stay..." Kurt arched an eyebrow and turned Finn's face up so it faced his. There was something strange and powerful in Finn's eyes, it kind of scared Kurt.

"Jeez Finn," He began, letting Finn slide over on his side again. "I'll stay here if it means that much." Kurt put his hands gently in Finn's hair and proceeded to rub his head gingerly. "Why are you so hard to say 'no' to..." Kurt almost whispered.

"I just want to spend this long weekend with you," Finn answered. "Just you, just us having fun and chilling out...as brother's do." he added on the end, unsure of how convincing he was.

"Fine with me." Kurt said after a brief silence, and he pressed the play button and the movie started again.

The movie played on through the night, it was a pretty long movie, Kurt had forgotten how long. Kurt cried at the very end, and although he tried to not make it obvious, Finn was snuggled so close to him that not only could he hear Kurt's hiccups and sniffles, he could feel Kurt's body tense up before each short sob. Sitting up, Finn wrapped an arm behind Kurt and the other one around Kurt's front and pulled him into a lying down position in front of Finn, pulling him up close to his chest and rubbing his arm with one hand.

"Shh...It's ok, Kurt" Finn whispered, this wasn't the first time he had noticed Kurt crying during a movie, so he knew what to do. He continued to rub Kurt's arm in comfort while he snuggled his face slightly in Kurt's hair, tacking a sniff. _Strawberry, _Finn thought. _Cute..._

After a while, Kurt's sobs and sniffles and hiccups turned into slower breaths, Finn glanced over at Kurt to find him asleep. Turning off the TV very carefully so as not to wake Kurt, Finn settled back into a comfortable position and drifted off to sleep.

Kurt woke up the next morning to the sun shining bright on his face through the windows in the living room. He was stretched out on the couch in the living room, the blanket wrapped around his body. What Kurt noticed the most was the large empty space behind him...Finn must have already been up and moving about. Kurt slowly got to his feet and headed to the kitchen, the tile floor in the kitchen cold against his bare feet. Finn stood at the counter, in jeans and a different t-shirt, looking much healthier than when he had come home the other day.

"Good Morning, Sleeping Beauty," Finn smiled, passing Kurt a bowl of cereal. "Eat up and do whatever daily regiments you have to do, we are going to go outside today." Finn couldn't have picked a better day to go outside, Kurt thought, it was gorgeous out. Sunny, and Kurt felt a light breeze coming in threw the open window in the kitchen.

"What did have planned for us today, Finn Hudson?" Kurt asked through a mouth of cereal.

"We are going to practice some rake some leaves into a pile," Finn put up one finger, which didn't really thrill Kurt to have to be working this early in the morning. Finn held up a second finger, "And we are going to practice some football." Strike two, Kurt thought to himself. Finn picked up a red flannel shirt off the chair, putting it on and buttoning it to an appropriate amount. He picked up a dark green vest and put that on over the flannel. Kurt thought all he was missing was a pair of cowboy boots and a John Deere hat for it to be too wrong on so many levels.

"Meet me outside when you're ready, I'm going to get start on the raking." Finn patted Kurt's arm and went outside. Kurt quickly ate the rest of his breakfast and went downstairs... he could skip a few minutes in his skin regiment today... just a few though.

Finn looked up from his pile of leaves to see Kurt walking out in a large red t-shirt over the football teams signature underarmour, and shorts with the team's emblem on it, and a pair of sensible spanks on under that...Finn chuckled that the outfit was tapered off with a pair of Kurt's old designer shoes that showed many days of wear and tear.

"Alright," Finn clapped his hands together, then put them on Kurt's shoulders. "I raked all the leaves into this giant pile behind me."

"Thanks Finn," Kurt said dryly. "I definitely would not have noticed that without your brilliant observation skills."

"Right," Finn shrugged and went on. "Anyway I want you to go stand over there," Finn pointed to a good distance away. "Then run at me at full speed and try to tackle me with every bit of strength you have." Kurt looked up at him as if he were crazy. "Nah, dude you can totally do it!" Finn said as if he knew what Kurt's next words were going to be. "Just concentrate, and put all the force right here." Finn patted his abs. "I swear I won't feel a thing." Finn smiled.

"Oh yeah," Kurt's voice held a challenging tone. "You think so Hudson? Well I guess I will just have to teach you the heard way."

Kurt went over to where Finn had pointed to, and looked back at Finn who had a ridiculous smile on his face and his hands in thumbs up gestures. Taking a few deep breaths, Kurt steadied himself before charging at Finn at top speed. Closing his eyes, Kurt tried to put his body in a position that would ensure maximum tackle success rate.

Finn braced himself and, sure enough, Kurt hit him pretty hard, but ultimately just fell backwards and tumbled to the ground, Finn unmoved from his spot. Finn laughed and Kurt looked up at him, "It would be easier if you weren't such a brick wall." Kurt said, pouting.

"Oh come on now," Finn offered a hand and Kurt took it, letting Finn lift him up. "No pouting, you are better than that. Now, what you did was just think about it too much. Don't be concerned with how you are going to tackle me, just let it happen. Like singing a ballad, don't think about the feelings and thoughts you want to convey to the audience... just do it naturally and it will happen." Finn gave Kurt a quick shake to make sure he wasn't too shaken up from the hit and fall he took earlier. Kurt nodded and trudged back to his place, shaking his thoughts off, just trying to let it all happen the way Finn instructed...No luck. This time, Finn's body just stopped him as he tried to push Finn over after hitting his wall of abs again. Finn laughed and pushed Kurt off gently.

"Stay here," Finn instructed, rushing inside, leaving Kurt to ponder what he could be up to now. Finn had retrieved the iPod player from the house, plugged it in to the outlet on the side of the house and put Kurt's iPod in. He pointed out to Kurt's position, where Kurt promptly went to. Finn found the perfect song and grabbed the small remote to the appliance and headed to his spot.

"Now pay attention," Finn yelled over to Kurt, who nodded. Kurt watched as Finn pressed a button and heard _Don't Rain on My Parade_ come clear through the speakers.

"What-?" Kurt began but was cut off as Finn started dancing idiotically to the music.

"Ooh look at me! I'm Barbra Streisand! I can sing this song and dance like this!" Finn proceeded to turn around and shake his butt right in front of Kurt, who felt his face burn. He knew Finn was joking, but still, taking shots at La Streisand was just a step too far. Not to mention Finn had proceeded to do the "Macareena" dance to the music, which was just awful. Kurt charged at Finn at full death speed, intent to take him down.

Finn had just enough time to brace himself lightly between turns in his dance when Kurt hit him full force, sending him sprawling backwards. Even in that quick instance, he made sure to wrap his arms around Kurt, he didn't want him to go flying outside the pile and hurt himself. Finn twisted his body slightly to take most of the sudden stop when they hit the pile, letting out a cough as if winded, and laughing as he pulled Kurt up from under some leaves. To Finn's happy discovery, Kurt was laughing too, laughing so hard, tears had actually started running down his face.

"Oh..God, Finn...it...Hurts!" Kurt clutched his stomach, abs pounding from all the laughter. Finn just let out a "rawr" type noise and grabbed Kurt's waist and pulled him towards him, falling back into the leaves. He finally stood up and shook some of the leaves off his body as Kurt grabbed his arm and heaved himself up. Finn brushed leaves off of Kurt's shoulder's and arms, before placing his hands on Kurt's shoulders and rubbing them to warm Kurt up.

"You did great!" Finn smiled, shaking Kurt slightly, so that Kurt giggled. "You really tackled me and you didn't think you could! I totally knew you could, though, yup, you just had to focus on it." Finn laughed and ruffled Kurt's hair. Kurt looked up at Finn and gently reached up to brush the leaves out of Finn's hair, resting his hand on Finn's chest before wrapping his arms around Finn in a tight hug. Finn felt a warmth fill him and he smiled his best smile as he returned the hug, twisting and turning Kurt in his arms before picking him off the ground entirely and slinging him over his shoulder.

"Finn-!" Kurt almost squealed. "You'll wrinkle... my underarmour!"

"Relax princess," Finn laugh as Kurt lightly hit his head. "Hey, don't use your super big muscles to knock me out, don't forget I'm carrying you and from up there it's a steep drop." Finn felt Kurt's body tense up and he laughed, giving his shoulder a shrug causing Kurt to yell at him again.

When they got inside, Finn put Kurt down, who lightly punched him in the arm, Finn pretended to rub it like it actually hurt and Kurt just sneered at him.

"I'm going to take a shower." Kurt announced, heading downstairs. Noticing that Finn was following him, he added, "Would you like to go before me?"

"Nah you go first," Finn shrugged. "I'll just hang out on my bed till you're done."

Kurt nodded slowly, a suspicious look on his face. Nevertheless, Kurt headed into the bathroom and started his shower. Finn lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, Kurt's birthday was coming up soon, and he had been talking to different people about what to get Kurt, since he was no good at choosing gifts. Everyone was agreed: a scarf would be best for Kurt, as if Finn couldn't have thought of that himself. Finn didn't want to just go out and by a scarf though... it just felt too overdone to him... he stared at the ceiling, planning out his gift. He heard the water shut off from the shower and he instantly sat up, he wanted to play with Kurt just a bit more. Grabbing a polaroid camera, he inched towards the bathroom, placing his hand on the door knob and twisting it quietly, just enough to see if... it was indeed unlocked and Finn chuckled to himself. He swung open the door without warning and held up the camera and snapped any picture he could.

"FINN!" Kurt screamed loud enough to wake the neighbors. "Get the hell out of the bathroom!" He shoved Finn out the door and slammed it behind him. Finn laughed as he heard the lock on the door click on Kurt's end. _At least now maybe he will lock the front door too..._ Finn thought.

Taking the photo from the camera, he shook it until it developed. He laughed and smiled...there was Kurt, wrapped in a towel long enough to go past his knees, his hair wrapped in a towel-like-turban, his face bright red with embarrassment. Just then, and idea shot into Finn's head, as he rushed to the far section of the room so Kurt wouldn't hear him. Dialing a number, he waited for the couple rings, hoping she would answer her phone.

"Hello Finn." A soft voice said on the other end.

"Quinn!" Finn was delighted she answered her phone. "Listen, I know what I want to give Kurt for his birthday."

"I thought you were getting him a scarf..." Quinn said, confused.

"Yeah, but I don't want to just go buy him one, it's so overdone... You know how to crochet right?"

"Why are you interested in lessons Mr. Quarterback?" Quinn giggled.

"Yeah," Finn said abruptly. "I wanna make Kurt a scarf for his birthday. That way he knows it's special, from me."

"Ok," Quinn said without hesitation. "I can pick up supplies today and we can work on it here at my place, it should be ready by Kurt's birthday if you start today and really work hard on it."

"I'll be over in 15 minutes, thanks Quinn!"

"Finn wait, before you go, do you have a color in mind?"

"Oh I think I have the perfect color for Kurt..." Finn said as his finger trailed on Kurt's bright red face in the photo.

**A/N** So I hope you all enjoyed it! I am going to be using the rest of the characters in chapter 2 and on... I'm still feeling this story out, but at least chapter one is up! REMEMBER: IF YOU WANT ME TO CONTINUE WRITING THIS STORY, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! reviews mean so much to me so thank you in advance! Chapter 2 on it's way after a few reviews have been submitted!

~BlueRain26


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Do I have to put one of these at the beginning of every chapter? oh well... standard disclaimers apply

**A/N: **Not gonna lie, I wasn't planning on updating so soon, even considered leaving this as a one-shot.. but the response was amazing! Thank you all so very much for reviewing!-I'm glad you enjoyed Chapter One... I really hope you enjoy Chapter Two! Before we jump into it, I thought I'd address a few reviews: The dream Finn had in the beginning of Chapter One will come back into play, but not until much much later in this fic, please be patient, I have it planned so great! (I hope!) Also, I'm so glad people are grateful for the type of relationship Finn and Kurt had in Chapter One, as I stated, I'm taking it slow, I do intend for this to be a Finn/Kurt fic with romance and such... but they have to start somewhere, and I don't want to rush them into something huge without it meaning something (I'm a softie, I know...) On a final note, one of my priorities is to have each chapter start where the other left off... I know you think "Well jeez that's kinda common sense/obvious that you would..." I have read some great fics that do not do that, and they are amazing, but my style is different... in case you haven't already guessed, I'm neurotic about certain things ^_- Ok, my rant is done, on to Chapter Two! Enjoy it guys, thanks again for all the reviews, they mean SO MUCH to me! REVIEW FOR THIS CHAPTER IF YOU WANT CHAPTER THREE UP EARLY NEXT WEEK! ^_^

**Chapter Two**

Kurt came out of the bathroom, steam from his hot shower filtering out and into the room. Finn, who sat in the corner hanging up his phone, looked up and his smile seemed to fade to horror, or excitement. Either way, he started to laugh and tried very hard to hold it in, but the sight before him was just too much.

Standing in a distance between the bathroom and their beds was Kurt, towels wrapped around him, one in a mock-dress type outfit around his small frame and another wrapped in a turban around his head. His face was flushed, his eyes glaring down at Finn, and steam filtering all around him... Finn thought he looked like a demonic version of an elf one would see in children's stories about Santa Claus.

"You..." Finn choked down a laugh. "You look so _chic_!" Kurt grabbed one of pillows from off Finn's nearby bed and chucked it at his face, only to scoff when the jock caught it and smiled back at him.

"Your a jackass," Kurt spat, sitting down at his diva-mirror, turning on the lights. "And to think I rubbed your head and let you watch a movie with me last night..."

"I made you breakfast and took care of all the raking _and_ helped you with football," Finn smiled another smile, getting up and flopping down on his bed with his pillow hugged to his chest. "I got you beat, Hummel." Kurt sighed and began to examine himself in the mirror. "Why are you so worried about what you look like?" Finn said as he tried to tap Kurt's shoulder, but missed. "You just took a shower, you're clean enough."

"Every day what I present to the world, whether inside my house or outside, is a reflection on me," Kurt explained dryly, rubbing moisturizer on his face. "You never know if you are going to have to run out of the house for something."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Finn took advantage of the open opportunity. "I'm heading over to Quinn's for a bit today... I have some stuff I need to do." he added as Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, but then he nodded.

"Baby Mama Drama?"

"I'm not the father, remember?" Finn answered almost instantly to Kurt's question. Kurt could have slapped himself, he knew it was a very touchy subject for Finn to talk about, but he only nodded again.

"I don't have any plans for today, Mercedes is at work all day," Kurt said, knowing Finn would suggest he go see his best friend. "Tina and Artie aren't available, so I might just take a walk outside today." Finn felt a shock go through his body.

"Where will you go?" Finn asked, hesitantly.

"Oh, I don't know," Kurt waved a hand at him. "Wherever I'm taken to... I really want to go down the nature trails before they close for the winter. Maybe go sit by the river and just think things over."

Finn's face was pale and Kurt glanced at him, then did a double-take and almost rushed to his side, leaving his skin care on his stand.

"Finn?-Finn! In the toilet Finn!" Kurt tried to heave the quarterback to his feet, with no avail.

"I'm not going to be sick," Finn said finally, snapping back into reality. Kurt looked puzzled, examining his face and once again placing his palm on Finn's forehead.

"You don't seem to have a fever, and you're regaining a bit of your color... are you sure you're ok?" Kurt asked, worried. "I don't have to go for a walk, you can call Quinn and reschedule with her and we can stay in again."

"I'm fine Kurt," Finn said, stand and placing his hands on Kurt's shoulders. "Really, I feel-Kurt?" Finn looked down at the smaller boy who seemed to sink in on himself, he was beginning to cry. "Kurt-oh Kurt, don't start crying, you'll mess up the stuff you have on your face..." Finn sat on his bed, so he was about even height with Kurt. He lifted the still crying Kurt's chin and brushed away as much of his tears as he could, but new one's kept forming. Finn tried to fan Kurt's face with his hands, trying to dry the moisturizer on his face so it wouldn't run, that would definitely ruin Kurt's day.

"Hey...hey, come here," Finn stood up and pulled Kurt in for a hug, standing there rubbing Kurt's back and whispering things in his ears to comfort him. "What's wrong?" Finn bent down and gazed into Kurt's eyes.

"I don't want you going out if you're sick," Kurt said, hiccuping. "I would rather you stayed home where I know you won't get into any trouble...well, at least not huge trouble." Finn chuckled and pulled Kurt in for another hug.

"You're crazy Kurt," he smiled, resting his head on top of Kurt's. "I'll be super careful driving to Quinn's and I'll come home right after I'm done...you be careful too..." Finn added hesitantly. "On your walk, I mean... just... don't go off the trail to sit by the river or anything."

"That's a very odd, random, but incredibly specific statement Finn," Kurt withdrew from the hug, wiping his eyes and looking up at Finn. "I had no intentions of going near that death trap of a river... why bring it up?"

"I don't know..." Finn tried to avoid the subject. "Just... you know... it's marked off limits for a reason is all... just didn't want you to all of a sudden think you're invincible because you tackled me earlier." It was a perfect cover-up, with a perfect Finn Hudson cover-up smile.

"That's the Finn Hudson cover-up smile," Kurt's said instantly, eyes widening. "What are you hiding Hudson?"

"Nothing!" Finn threw up his hands in his own defense. "What the hell dude, I can't ask you to be careful all of a sudden?" Kurt gazed deep into Finn's eyes, trying to figure it out for himself what Finn was hiding from him... Finn just stood there, hands still held up in defense, hoping Kurt would brush past what he was hiding.

"You're right," Kurt finally gave in and Finn sighed and rolled his eyes giving Kurt the "you think?" face, Kurt lightly punched his arm. "Don't give me the face, Hudson. I still expect you back when you are done at Quinn's."

"Fine, god dude, take a chill pill already," Finn sighed and put his shoes on. Seeing how rigid Kurt became made Finn remember what Kurt had just cried about... he couldn't help it, Kurt just worried..even if he worried too much. "Just...I'll be back after, we'll both be careful, can we move on from this?" Kurt nodded, but didn't say anything. Finn, wanting to break this awkward silence, suddenly grabbed the towel off of Kurt's head, his hair falling gently on his face. Kurt just gave Finn an impatient look before turning back to himself in the mirror and busying himself with his hair.

"Come on Kurt, just say something already...God, this is so stupid, what are we even upset about?" Kurt seemed to be thinking hard about Finn's question.

"I... I don't know..." Kurt said, honestly. "I think I'm just being whiny and impatient..."

"...because you care." Finn finished Kurt's sentence. "I know, and I appreciate it, so much...I really do." Finn went to ruffle Kurt's hair, but Kurt slapped his hand away.

"Hands off, Hudson," he said firmly. "My hair is off-limits at least two hours after showering." Kurt smiled and Finn laughed, _Stupid pointless fights, _Finn thought. Tying his shoes, Finn got up and looked at himself in the mirror. "Take off the vest." Kurt said, without even looking at him. "If you're not going to shower before going to see Quinn, at least give her the courtesy of not looking like a total hillbilly."

"Hey!" Finn laughed. "You gave me that vest, I thought you liked it..."

"I did and I do," Kurt was still focusing on his appearance in the mirror. "...but over a flannel shirt? No..." Kurt shook his said on the "no..." part and Finn just laughed and took off his poofy vest, preparing to drop it on his bed, when he walked over to Kurt.

"Hey..." he said. Kurt looked up at him. "I'll be back later, you want me home for dinner?" It felt weird...but also right of Finn to ask Kurt that.

"Your choice ... I suppose," Kurt almost stuttered, which was hint enough for Finn, he wasn't totally dumb. Finn leaned down and gently kissed Kurt's head and rubbed his arm.

"I'll be back for dinner then," he said, smiling and starting to walk away. "Oh yeah," he had almost forgotten. "When you go for your walk, wear the vest." he tossed his vest on Kurt's bed.

"I'll be drowning in it," Kurt said bluntly, Finn wincing at the mention of drowning, but he hid it well so Kurt wouldn't notice.

"Dude, it will keep you warm," Finn was trying to come up with any excuse to have Kurt wear his vest while he was out, he decided the truth would be the best choice. "...and it would just make me feel good knowing you were wearing it, you know, just makes me know you're safe."

"How?" Kurt asked, joking. Seeing Finn's reaction, he laughed and said. "I'm kidding, I'll wear your vest... but you know it will go down way past my waist." Finn laughed.

"You'll be fine." Finn said. "See you later Kurt." he said, heading upstairs to leave.

"Goodbye, Finn Hudson," he heard Kurt say behind him.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Finn pulled up to Quinn's house, taking a deep breath. He and Quinn had been pretty successful at moving on with their friendship after all she had done to him. In truth, Finn just didn't like to see people sad, he didn't want to hurt Quinn, even though she had ultimately betrayed him. He had to force smiles sometimes, but he knew that if it meant he and Quinn didn't argue, it was worth it. He knocked on Quinn's front door, she answered, expecting him.

"Wow, Finn, you're such a gentleman for knocking first," She said smiling, he smiled back at her, a sincere smile. He entered her house, taking off his shoes and as she began to turn and walk for her kitchen, he gently grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. "Hey, com here," he said, gently pulling her into a small hug. Quinn normally didn't show it, but she was on the verge of tears every time Finn hugged her. She had done her best to resolve the tenseness straining her relationship with him, but she knew that ultimately, it would never be enough. She pulled away.

"I've missed your hugs, we've missed them," She said, rubbing her pregnant belly, Finn trying to remember how happy it made him she was having a child, even if it was Puck's. He smiled and gave a slight laugh. Quinn knew she had to prevent any awkwardness from occurring, so she led Finn to her kitchen. On the table she had all sorts of yarns and crocheting needles spread out on a large table. "Take your pic." she said, giving Finn a smile. Finn's face lit up and he went over to the materials, examining them with such care, Quinn had to step in knowing he knew nothing about what he was about to do. "Ok, we'll start simple: Color." She said, rubbing her hands in circles on Finn's back in a friendly manner. "What color did you have in mind? You never did tell me over the phone." Finn squinted at the colors in front of him. Various colors from dark to light, fluorescents to pastels, it was a good thing he brought something to help him choose the perfect color. Reaching into his pocket, he took out the picture of Kurt he had taken earlier and began examining all the reds... he had to find the exact shade.

Quinn briefly looked over his shoulder to see the picture. "Is that...Kurt?" She asked, giggling. Finn nodded, smiling because he knew she was giggling at Kurt's ability to be adorable even in anger.

"Yeah, I took it right before I called you," Finn said, beaming as if he was a little kid who had hammered his first board with his dad. Quinn laughed and pointed to a long strain of yarn.

"I'd say that fits his color perfectly," she said, and she was right. "There's not much left, but we can blend it with another shade of red, it will absolutely fine," She said, noticing Finn's slight concern. "And Kurt will like it better than a monochromat-one-colored scarf." Quinn dumbed it down for Finn, he was focusing too hard on how he was going to magically make a scarf appear out of this yarn. "Here, let me start it for you, and you can continue it and finish it yourself, don't worry I won't say a word, you did everything." Quinn giggled at how concerned with every detail Finn seemed to be, he was never this way when they were dating. "So... you and Kurt have become close now?" She half-asked half-said, just finishing the beginning to the scarf and handing it to Finn, who stared at it blankly.

"Well our parents are dating, we're basically brothers...so yeah," Finn was trying to figure out how to hold the crocheting needles and talk at the same time, he wasn't doing a very good job. Quinn laughed and took them from Finn, beginning to do more work on the scarf, even though Finn looked like she had slapped him in the face when she took it and began to do it with such ease.

"Don't worry," She said giggling. "I won't do all of it, just watch my hands and practice with this," she handed him some scrap yarn and two needles that were easiest to handle. "Just do what I do, you'll get it, see?" Finn was sort of picking it up, at least he was doing as best he could, the whole crocheting thing was very new to him. Quinn giggled as his fingers fumbled and slipped and how his needles made either very smooth lines or very jagged and edgy cuts. Even though he was frustrated, Finn kept his eyes glued on Quinn's, trying to copy exactly how she did it. "There you go," Quinn's soft voice said, encouraging. "Good job... you know what used to help me? Not thinking about how bad I was doing when I first tried this..." Finn looked up at her. "Why don't we focus on something else," she suggested. "Tell me about living with Kurt."

Finn's face lit up again and Quinn definitely noticed it, and he seemed to sit up straighter and his crocheting, while not exponentially better, was at least improving as he told her what he and Kurt had done last night and this morning.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Kurt got out of his car and stared at the paths before him. It was a perfect day for a walk. The sun was out, and a light breeze danced around him, he loved the weather like this. He zipped up Finn's vest that he had promised to wear, taking in the smell of Finn, as if Finn were right there walking with him. He had wanted to ask Finn why he was really going over to Quinn's earlier... not because Kurt had anything against Quinn now, he had warmed up to her softened nature...but Finn did say he wanted to spend the weekend with Kurt... just Kurt.

"What am I thinking?" Kurt said to himself, taking his first steps on the trail. "Finn can spend his time with anyone he wants, we spend enough time together anyway, so what if he wants to go hang out with Quinn?" A voice inside his head seemed to say _What if he went over there to hook up with her? After all, it wouldn't be totally out of his character...he did it once, he can do it again, and again, and again... _"I don't care who he hooks up with!" Kurt said, loud enough that if anyone was around, they would have heard him. "We are friends, practically brothers! I enjoy his company and-"

"Who are you talking to, Hummel?" A voice came from behind Kurt that made him freeze. He turned slowly to see that two jocks who had mainly harassed him at school, of course they would just show up here out of nowhere he thought.

"I'm not talking to anyone," Kurt said coldly. "Just trying to take a walk is all..." "Really?" the jock sneered. "It's such a nice day out, don't you think?" He waited unmoving until Kurt nodded, without putting any feeling or emotion into it. "Yeah it's the perfect day for a run, don't you think?" the bulky guy cracked his knuckles, and the jock next to him began to laugh... Kurt suddenly knew their intention. His eyes widened and he went to say something but the jock only pointed farther down the trails. "You've got a 20 second head start, Hummel." The two jocks stood between Kurt and his car, there was no way he could just drive away from them... so he ran. He ran as fast as he could, without looking back, all the while wishing Finn was here to save him.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

"Am I boring you Quinn?" Finn asked. He had been so involved with talking about how great it was that he helped Kurt with football, and how they watched a movie together, and how much his crocheting had improved that he forgot she was human, with the option to respond if he had given her a chance.

"Not at all," Quinn smiled sincerely. "I think it's great that you can help Kurt so much... you guys were made to live with each other." Finn nodded, not quite getting the full implication of Quinn's statement, but she didn't elaborate, it was nice just to see him smile. "Almost done..." Finn looked down, admiring his start on Kurt's present.

"Well, it is almost 6," Quinn looked at the clock and placed her hands on Finn's who looked up at her for the first time since he began to talk about Kurt. "Didn't you say you had to be home for dinner?" she smiled as Finn laughed.

"Yeah, yeah I did say that," Finn chuckled. "But I don't know, I mean, we're having a good time catching up... I could stay longer and we could-" Quinn shook her head and folded Finn's hands in hers. Finn looked at her with a blank expression on his face.

"You made a promise, Finn" She giggled. "I can only admire you for keeping it... and I'd feel bad if I kept you here all this time. Besides, I have to clean all this up and then lie down for a bit. I'm fine," she said, noticing Finn's face. "Just a normal part of the pregnancy: eating, the compulsive need for things to be perfectly clean, and lying down." She and Finn laughed and he stood up, taking her hands and pulling her into another hug, Quinn almost let the tears flow, but she held back. Finn gave her a light squeeze and buried his face in her hair, he missed her.

"Thank you so much for all the help," he said looking down at her smiling back up at him. "Can I come back soon to finish it?" he nodded to the unfinished scarf on Quinn's table. She laughed.

"I'll keep it under lock and key until you come back, Finn, I promise," she said and Finn couldn't help but smile.

"You're the best." he said, she smiled and nodded, trying to hold back more tears. Finn got his sneakers off, said another goodbye and headed out the door. Quinn waited for him to pull out of her driveway before she let the tears flow freely. She truly loved Finn, and seeing and hearing how he was with Kurt, she couldn't help but be happy that someone was able to make that side of Finn come out. Closing the door, she went back to her kitchen and began to clean up. She saved the scarf for last, putting it in a drawer with nothing else in it, it became Finn's special drawer. She smiled and went to lay down on her couch.

"Do you want to watch some empowering TV?" She asked her belly, knowing her baby hears her. "Me too." she said grabbing the remote and clicking the TV on. The screen suddenly blared with professional wrestling, to which Quinn began to cheer and holler at.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Finn pulled into the driveway, turning off his truck and going up to the front door. It was locked, causing him to chuckle, Kurt had finally gotten the message about locking the doors. Finn got out his keys and unlocked the door and walked in, seeing lights on in the kitchen. He hoped Kurt got fed up with waiting and started making dinner without him, he liked to help in any way he could.

"Kurt?" he called. "Sorry I'm home a little later than I planned, Quinn and I just had a ton of catching up to do, she wants you to go baby shopping with her-Kurt?" Finn had walked in to the kitchen to see Kurt sitting at the table, a huge slab of meat on his forehead. "Um, dude?" Finn stepped closer. "I don't think that you should put meat on your face...it might clog your pores or something...Kurt?"

Kurt didn't answer, he just stepped forward, more into the light. Finn suddenly stumbled backwards as Kurt took the meat off of his face. Kurt had a huge scrape on his cheek, which was beginning to bruise but still bled a little bit, and various bruises on his arms visible where his sleeves were rolled up, and blood had dried on his nose. He also had a larger cut just above his eyebrow, which was bleeding slowly. And he was crying again. He opened his mouth to say something but Finn beat him to it.

"Who the fuck did this to you?" Finn growled, taking the meat from Kurt and placing it on the counter. "Who did it?" Finn yelled, slamming his hand on the counter, causing Kurt to flinch. Finn stood, chest heaving in anger, face flushed red with rage. Kurt suddenly melted into the chair near him, his crying had elevated to uncontrollable sobbing. Finn took a deep breath, feeling as though he had almost blamed Kurt for not answering him. He rushed to Kurt's side and lifted his chin to examine his shiner and various other marks. "Damn, who ever it was got you good... what happened?" Kurt explained the entire story through sobs and hiccups, expecting Finn to be yelling at him. Instead, Finn lifted Kurt out of the chair and placed him sitting on the counter. Unzipping the vest he had given Kurt to wear, he saw the blood, probably from Kurt's nose, dried on it.

"I'm sorry about your vest." Kurt whispered hoarsely. Finn stared at Kurt, why would he apologize for something like this? "That's why we have a washing machine and a dryer," Finn said dryly. "What was with the meat on your face?" Finn got a dishtowel and wet it, wiping the dried blood, dirt, and tears away from Kurt's face. A few times he had bean a bit rough around the bruises on Kurt's arm, causing Kurt to flinch in pain, Finn apologizing profusely.

"In the movies," Kurt said as he let Finn wipe around his ears and nose. "You would always see the hardcore male leads put meat on their faces if they got punched." Finn laughed and headed over to the freezer, opening it.

"Well, I don't know if that actually works as good as the old fashioned way," Finn put a handful of ice cubes in the dishtowel, giving it to Kurt. "Ice it, Hummel, don't take it off until I tell you to."

"Isn't this ironic?" Kurt said, confusing Finn.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just last night you were sick and I helped you-"

"You took great care of me," Finn nodded, causing Kurt to smile.

"...and now tonight, you have to take care of me. It's all so strangely ironic I think."

Finn shrugged and began to protest as Kurt lowered the make-shift ice-pack from his face.

"Hey what did I say-?"

"My arms are falling asleep, Finn," Kurt pouted, but he put the ice back on his cheek.

"Here," Finn put his hand over the ice pack, taking his other hand and placing Kurt's hand in his. "Don't worry, I'll find those assholes and kick their-"

"No." Kurt stopped him. "Don't, Finn. Just... don't...please..."

"What do you mean?" Finn was getting a little worked up, but he thought he was justified in his feelings. "Kurt, these jerks beat you up and you expect me to just forget it happened and let them get away with it?"

"Yes," Kurt said, and Finn could not believe he was hearing this. "Finn, I just wasn't a fast enough runner..." that wasn't helping the situation, Finn's face just got redder. "Listen to me, I'm not saying I don't appreciate what you are saying, I just don't want you to go out there looking for trouble only to find yourself unprepared when you find it. You know what I mean..." Kurt said, seeing Finn give him the "what do you mean, unprepared?" look. There was an awkward silence that followed... both boys staring in different directions.

"I knew you shouldn't have gone out for a walk..." Finn muttered, but it was loud enough for Kurt to hear, loud enough to break the silence.

"Oh what are you talking about?" Kurt slid off the counter and turned to face Finn, who was annoying Kurt with his all-knowing attitude. Finn just looked down at Kurt, knowing he had so much to say, but he couldn't say most of it, he just couldn't.

"I-I told you to be careful..." Finn said, trailing off.

"Oh because I just went out looking for a fight, Finn? Oh, wait, that's what you were about to do!" Kurt's voice rose.

"It's not that... It's just...Why do you have to get into so much trouble all the time?" Finn knew this was all coming out wrong, but he didn't know how else to say it.

"What?" Kurt was pissed. "I'm sorry if I'm different and people in this town hate people who are different! I'm sorry if that doesn't work in your perfect world, Finn! What, do you want me to apologize for being gay next? Is that too much for you to handle? Is it too much for you to come help your poor gay friend when he is beaten because he doesn't fit into the perfect little box the world has made for him? Well I won't apologize, Finn!" Kurt started to head for the door.

"Where are you going?" Finn finally got a few words in.

"Nowhere," Kurt said, putting on his shoes. "Don't worry, I won't need you to rescue me anymore."

"Hey!" Finn yelled, and Kurt turned to face him, full on and ready to fight if he had to. To his surprise, Finn just looked around as if he didn't know what to do, and that's when Kurt saw the tears forming in Finn's eyes. "I-I just wanted to make sure you were ok..." Kurt couldn't help but sigh deeply and feel his body relax. Finn may have been being a jackass, but he didn't know it. Finn began to cry. "I just didn't want anything to happen to you and then it did and I couldn't be there for you." Finn furiously brushed away his tears with his palm.

Kurt took a step closer to Finn.

"You can't always be there for me, Finn," he said gently. "You have to let me deal with my own problems once in a while. I am flattered that you want to be there for me and help me, but I'm a big boy, sometimes you just have to take a step back and let things go. You can kick the asses of anyone you want, but it won't take back what happened." Finn had tears running down his face as he looked at Kurt's bruises and cuts, he opened his mouth to say something, but Kurt turned away and made for the door again.

"Kurt," Finn said hoarsely. "Kurt!" He called his friend's name. Kurt rolled his eyes and turned around, hands on his hips. Finn walked up to him. "You know how you said I was hiding something earlier?" Kurt nodded. "Well, you were right, I was, er, I am hiding something..." Finn took a deep breath, the last ditch effort to keep Kurt with him tonight. "I-" Finn could barely get it out without a huge lump forming in his throat. "-Forget it." he finally said, sniffing. Kurt frowned and nodded, rolling his eyes.

"You're impossible, Finn Hudson," He said coldly. "Clueless and impossible."

"Maybe," Finn blinked. "But at least I care."

Not a split second later, Finn felt a giant surge of pain in his stomach as Kurt punched him, hard. Finn was hunched over, trying to catch his breath which had been forced out of him, and all he could see was Kurt running out the door, not even looking back.

Stumbling back to the kitchen, he dialed Quinn's number, she answered after a few rings.

"Help..." he gasped into the phone.

On the other line, Quinn made out the few words she needed before grabbing her car keys and rushing out the door.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Kurt was walking the streets, alone... at least the lamplights would alert him to any dangers, if any. Cars whizzed past him, he was envious he couldn't just jump in one and go far, far away.

_At least I care..._

Finn's words cut through him and filled him with too many emotions he couldn't label. Why would Finn think he didn't care? Why did it matter so much to Finn? He didn't have too much time to think to himself before a car pulled up in front of him. He instantly recognized the person who got out and headed towards him.

"Don't even start with me," Quinn said fiercely, one hand supporting her back as she walked as fast as she could with her pregnant self over to Kurt. "Now you are going to get in that car and come with me."

"And if I refuse?" Kurt asked, he knew why Quinn was here, Finn had sent her. "If you refuse, I'll go to the cops and say there is a skinny gay kid with a huge bruise on his face harassing pregnant girls."

"They'll never believe you." Kurt said hotly.

"Oh really?" Quinn challenged. "It's actually easy to understand, you are jealous you can't get pregnant with a man's child, so you go around making pregnant girls feel depressed and horrified, causing an increase in birth defects leading to a possibility of lower infant mortality."

Kurt stood, mouth agape, before following Quinn to her car.

"Did you practice that or something?" He asked when they finally got in the car.

"The entire way here." Quinn replied quickly.

"My God..." Kurt blinked. "Such a brilliant performance, why Finn would ever leave you is beyond-" "I slept with his best friend and am carrying his baby, do the math." Quinn cut him off, which was fine for Kurt, he didn't want to be talking about Finn even though he brought him up first. "Kurt, you need to go home..." Quinn said, looking at him with her soft eyes.

"I'm having roomate issues," Kurt replied

"What, Finn getting upset and worrying about you is the issue? That's a pretty dumb issue." Quinn didn't waste any time letting Kurt know how she felt. "You know, I wish Finn cared this much when we were going out," She said, a tear almost escaping her, she brushed it away before it could fall.

"He did," Kurt said after a while. "He just didn't show it as prominently."

"And you don't find it amazing that he does show it when he's dealing with you?" Quinn had a point, and Kurt had a smart-ass answer for her, but Quinn put up her hand before he could retort. "Say what you want, you know that's something special you guys have."

"We're practically brothers-"

"Is that all?" Quinn's question even confused Kurt.

"What do you mean?" he asked turning to face her in the car.

"What?" She asked. "You don't think I noticed how you used to stare at him? You think I don't know what it's like to feel something so incredibly hurtful because you love him so much, but you know secretly it will never be enough?" Quinn gave Kurt a look which could only encourage one response. Kurt hugged Quinn, he held her and she held him, they both started crying profusely in Quinn's car on the side of the road, clinging to each other for comfort.

When they finally pulled away, both wiped their tears away and looked at each other with a new found appreciation.

"You know," Quinn sniffed and wiped her face with the heel of her palm. "I lost my chance with him because I made a stupid, rash decision." Kurt looked down, hoping Quinn wouldn't notice how his face fell, she did. "I would hate for you to suffer the same way I do now. Don't get me wrong, I love Puck, but a part of me still hurts and wonders what my life would have been like if I hadn't made that stupid decision." Kurt sniffled and nodded, he understood.

"Quinn," Kurt finally said. "Our parents are dating... if they get married, we will be brothers. And Finn is straight anyway, what chance did I ever have with him?"

"He lit up when he came to my house and I told him to talk about living with you," Quinn said, rubbing Kurt's arm. "The entire room lit up, I'm serious," she said seeing Kurt's "yeah right" reaction. "There is something there, Kurt, even if only brotherly. Finn is giving you, as a brother, more that he ever gave me as his girlfriend. Just, give him a chance...He acts stupid and he doesn't have a gift with words...he's a boy. More importantly, he has the biggest heart of anyone I know. Kurt," she made sure he was looking her in the eye when she said this. "His heart will break if you aren't in his life. Call that what you will, but do you really want that to happen to him?"

Kurt shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "No..." he managed to say through sobs.

"Then put your seatbelt on..." Quinn instructed him, as she secured hers. "And tell me where you want to be right now."

"With Finn," Kurt cried. "Take me home... please..."

Quinn smiled and sped off towards Kurt's house.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Finn was crying in the kitchen when he heard the front door open and close. He went to go check to see if it was who he really thought it was, but Kurt made it into the kitchen before he made it over, and the two just stared at each other. Within seconds, Finn fell into Kurt's arms, who stumbled back and eventually kneeled on the ground, supporting Finn as he cried into his shoulder, then Finn looked at Kurt, who was also crying at this point. Neither had to apologize, or explain themselves, they just knew what the other was thinking. Finn pulled Kurt close to him in a tight hug, Kurt burying his face in Finn's chest, crying his heart out.

"Jesus Christ Finn," Kurt hiccuped. "Look what you do to me..."

**A/N:** There you go guys! Chapter Two! what did you think? I was pretty happy with it.. we used Quinn, who is still pregnant ( there is a reason for that I swear!) and best of all, she's not a bitch! wooot!

SUBMIT A REVIEW IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU READ AND WANT ME TO KEEP POSTING! thank you SO SO SO SO MUCH to all my reviewers from Chapter One, submit another one guys! I'm really interested to know what you think about this!

Until next time!

~BlueRain26


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** You all know the drill

**A/N:** Wow, what can I say? I was going to post this early next week, but the reviews are so kind and thoughtful and insightful, I had to post! Now, that being said, unless inspiration continues to flow from my noodle, please don't be sad if Chapter 4 doesn't come up until the middle of the week or so, it will be here! Again, the reviews are amazing, thank you all for submitting, you guys are so kind and even get the subtleties I try to incorporate in my fic! As usual, I will take just a few moments to address some things, I hope you guys read these too haha

Some people think that there is a little too much crying, especially on Finn's end, in this fic. I thought about it and I agree with you, on a certain level. There is no need for them to be constantly unhappy, even with all that went down in Chapter Two. It is a bit out of character for Finn to be crying about such things... however, I will point out that he has cried in the TV series, and although we didn't see much of it, we saw him crying. We know he can feel powerful emotions after just a short confrontation, such as the one he had with Kurt. Let's also keep in mind, Finn is a little messed up right now ^_- he has all the baby drama still looming over him, he has that dream he had way back in Chapter One that he is dealing with, and he's confused about why he feels the way he does towards Kurt. He doesn't want to control Kurt's life, but he also is terrified that something will happen to him, and when he walked in on Kurt who had been beaten, he just lost it. It was a blow up, in theatre terms; a sudden surge of uncontrollable emotions when someone's fears and frustrations were sprinting down the street...and into a brick wall, in simplest terms. He lost control and couldn't reign it all back in. I'm still feeling out what it means to write a "Drama" since, that is the first category this fic is listed as. I want there to be great moments, but I was also stuck on the fact that something HUGE had to happen in every chapter... it's all about finding the balance and I'm working on it, thank you for being patient with me while I do that! So yes, we will be trying to find the balance between necessary emotion and over kill haha. I will say, there will be more moments of Finn and Kurt crying profusely in this fic, and we all know Kurt is sensitive, he's cried thousands of times on the show, and I kept that part of his character... so don't be surprised if the "soap-opera"-esque scenes find their way into the plot, there will be tears and it will seem like overkill sometimes, but honestly, think of what these guys have been through in the past, during the start of this fic, and what is going to happen to them in the future of this fic... sometimes, crying is all that can come from things.

On my last note, I'm glad you all liked Quinn's contribution to Chapter Two! Yes, no more of bitch Quinn, I love her character, her journey, and she will play a HUGE part later down the line in Finn and Kurt's relationship. She will continue to be in chapters and I will work hard to incorporate the other characters as well as best I can. I hope you all enjoy Chapter Three, as usual submit a review and don't be afraid to point out something that makes you think, or makes you go "I don't think that would happen" or something, I'm not out to kill all the people who have submitted LOVELY reviews and added constructive criticism, it helps me very much as long as there is a balance between that and the enjoyment you all get from reading, I am grateful.

**Chapter Three**

After the rather intense display of emotions had mulled over, Finn was staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He had splashed some cold water on his and was drying it off with his towel. He couldn't really explain what had just happened, he still felt very emotionally raw after the happenings of one day, it was insane. Letting out a heavy sigh, Finn walked out of the bathroom, throwing his towel on his bed and headed back to the kitchen to see how Kurt was doing.

Kurt was pouring two cups of tea, a plastic bear jar of honey, sitting out on the counter, begging to be emptied into the mugs. Finn just grabbed a chair and sat down at the counter, saying nothing and watching as Kurt grabbed the bear and added just the right amount of honey to the mug he then passed to Finn. Kurt then turned the bear jar upside down and emptied a liberal amount of the honey into his mug, before returning the bear to its place in the cupboard. Kurt smiled, and for a split second, Finn looked past the bruises and cuts and saw Kurt's smile, what he had wanted to see since he had returned home.

"So..." Finn hesitated. "Do we need to like, talk about this or something?"

"I've said what I had to say," Kurt said, shaking his head. "I'd like to be done talking about it for now, if that's ok. Unless you have something you didn't get to say to me, that is," Kurt said, offering the floor to Finn. "Jeez, man, I don't know," Finn squirmed a little and took a gulp of his tea while Kurt took a dainty sip. "I just, I have been feeling really weird lately and I can't really explain it. I just don't like seeing you hurt, and even though I still can't believe you won't let me go after the punks that did this to you," Finn saw Kurt tense up, but continued. "I'm trying my best to respect your decision, I trust you."

"It's never going to go away Finn," Kurt said. "The teasing, the names, the physical altercations... they will always happen, one way or another. I'm not saying I should have to get used to it, or that you should either for that matter...but you can't stop them, not here, not in this town. If I can be an example to people about being proud to be different, who cares if I have a few battle scars?" "They make you look macho and tough," Finn laugh, reaching over and ruffling Kurt's hair. "I definitely wouldn't mess with you looking like that." Kurt giggled and looked at Finn, before averting his gaze to the clock behind Finn.

"10:00 already..." Kurt sighed. "This long weekend is going by too quickly, it's almost Sunday. Thank God we have Monday off..." Finn nodded and smiled, looking out the window, gazing up at the night sky.

"Hey, let's go sit out on the deck," Finn said, getting up and taking Kurt's hand in his and leading him out to the deck area, where they pulled up two chairs and looked up at the stars in the sky. "Sometimes, I just like to look up at the stars and just chill." Finn said, taking a deep breath.

"That's pretty cheesy, Hudson," Kurt laughed, but gave Finn a smile when he turned to him. "I'm kidding, it's cute...I mean, it's cool..that you do that." Kurt tried to recover from his slip of the word cute, he was failing miserably, Finn just chuckled.

"What can I say?" Finn grinned. "I'm adorable, I can't help it."

"That's an awfully smug look for you Hudson," Kurt commented sarcastically on Finn's sideways grin. "I'd bash you over the head with my mug to change that... if only Mr. Honey-Bear hadn't left me a marvelous gift in this cup..." Finn laughed

"Mr. Honey-Bear? That's what you call that thing?"

"I've called _him_ that since I was a kid," Kurt defended himself, but with a smile on his face. "Give me a break I was a kid."

"He looks like a Harvey to me," Finn half-joked, laughing when he saw that Kurt was actually deep in thought about the matter of naming a plastic honey container.

"Harvey the Honey-Bear..."Kurt trailed off, staring at the stars, before turning to Finn giving him a smile that gave Finn that warm sensation again.

"Harvey the Honey-Bear," Finn nodded, as if he approved, smiling back at Kurt. "Dude, if we were married and had kids, we'd be bangup at naming them." Kurt tensed slightly at the mention of ever having a family with Finn, his face warm. Finn, processing what he had just said, turned to Kurt. "Do you even want kids?"

"Are we getting married all of a sudden?" Kurt joked, nervously. "I must have missed the memo."

"I mean when you meet the...guy of your dreams," Finn almost said 'girl of your dreams' but luckily, he caught himself. "Do you want to get married and do the whole family thing? Like go all out with the kids, the dog, the garden and the white fence?"

"Wow, so many questions," Kurt said. "Well yes, when I meet that special someone, I want to get married. Kids would be nice, and it would make my dad happy that I'm passing on the family name. I hardly doubt there is such a place that we could have the whole picture with the white fence though," Kurt shrugged. "I just don't know that it will work out that way for me."

"Why would you say that?" Finn shifted in his chair. "You can do anything you want with your life Kurt, it's your life. Who cares what everyone else says? So what if you want to marry a dude and have little kids and live happily ever after, why shouldn't you? You deserve it same as me."

"And what do you want Finn Hudson?" Kurt smiled. "After you sweep your princess out the window onto your valiant steed, what goes on after that in the Hudson household?"

"Dude, I don't even know," Finn said, chuckling slightly. "I wish I had a better answer...I think I just have to meet the right person first." Kurt almost got excited when Finn said "person" instead of "girl" but remembered that what he had with Finn now was just as good, and better than being alone. Finn's phone suddenly vibrated on the arm of his chair, he picked it up and put it on speaker phone.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Puck's voice was on the other line. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Staying in," Finn breathed. "Sorry dude it's been a long day and I just need to chill." He smiled over at Kurt.

"That's cool man, you at Hummel's house?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Cool, I'll be over in a few." Puck hung up the phone, and Finn looked at Kurt.

"It's fine, I don't mind," Kurt smiled hesitantly. "I wonder what he'll say when he sees me like this?" Kurt tried to laugh about it

"He'll be scared shitless and never mess with you again," Finn smiled and the two shared a laugh. "And he'll say how adorable you look, even with the battle scars." Kurt laughed and Finn draped his arms on Kurt's shoulders, before pulling him in and resting his head on Kurt's. He was happy enough to just be here with Kurt right now, he'd worry about the future family plans later.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

"Holy shit, Hummel!" Puck's eyes widened, as he gazed upon Kurt's face. "What happened to you? Did you pick a fight with half the football team?"

"No," Kurt laughed slightly, but Finn saw the frown on his face. "Just two of them." Puck looked at Kurt, confused.

"Two jerks from the team beat Kurt up in the park today." Finn said, a certain edge to voice. Puck looked at Finn, then back at Kurt, as if he was trying to figure out some large puzzle, putting together the pieces one at a time.

Then, before he knew it, Kurt was back inside, sitting on the kitchen counter again. Puck was checking out all the various injuries.

"Dude, where are your bandages and stuff?" Puck asked, Finn brought them to him, very confused as to Puck's sudden interest in Kurt's well-being. "What?" Puck caught Finn's questioning look. "I took a nursing course to be ready when the baby gets here."

Finn and Kurt exchanged a look, then looked back at Puck, Kurt even put his hands on his hips in that manner of his.

"Ok, fine!" Puck threw up his hands. "So I've been forced to watch a lot of doctor shows with Quinn!" Kurt giggled, and Finn laughed, surprised he wasn't thinking about the whole drama with Puck and Finn.

Puck was rifling through the medical supplies, frustrated that he couldn't find a band-aid large enough for the cut above Kurt's eye. Finn had done a good job cleaning it, but Puck insisted that it had to be covered to prevent infection, the way he said it made Finn feel slightly inadequate as someone who could have been the father of Quinn's baby, but Kurt saw the look on Finn's face and reached over, putting Finn's hand in his...Puck didn't seem to care.

Puck gave up on trying to find something and took some liquid band-aid out of his coat pocket, apparently he always carried some around now. Puck was applying the liquid as carefully and gently as he could, but Kurt still squeezed Finn's hand a few times, and Finn gave gentle squeezes back. When Puck was done, he just smiled, a confident, look-what-I-can-do smile. Finn looked at Kurt, under the lighting of the kitchen, and even though he had been trying respect Kurt's decision to leave the punks that do this to him alone, he couldn't help feeling a burning sensation inside. He let go of Kurt's hand and walked out of the room in a huff, heading out to the deck, he needed to kick something. Back in the kitchen, Kurt went to go after Finn, but looked at Puck hesitantly. Puck arched an eyebrow at him, standing up straight.

"I...I don't know what to do.." Kurt stuttered. Puck sighed

"It's alright Hummel," Puck walked past Kurt, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I got this. Give me 5 minutes before you come outside." Kurt nodded and Puck sighed again before going out to see Finn tense, pacing around on the deck. "Dude, what the hell was that about?" he asked, but calmly.

"Kurt," Finn began, pacing still. "Kurt doesn't want me to go after the shitheads who did that to him. And I get why, I get it...but still..." Finn as usual was having trouble putting what he felt into words. "I don't know why man, it just makes me so mad!"

"Well he's your brother dude, you guys are tight," Puck shrugged. "You don't like seeing him get the shit beat out of him... but how would he feel if you went out there and got yourself beat up?"

"He wouldn't let me leave the house for days," Finn nodded, suddenly beginning to comprehend. "He'd stay by me the whole time until I was better." Finn looked at Puck, when had his friend suddenly become so empathetic and knowledgeable?

"I've had to watch a lot of Dr. Phil, too," Puck answered Finn's question. Finn laughed and Puck chuckled, and then Kurt was outside with them, looking first at Puck who nodded at him, then he turned his attention on Finn.

"I'm trying, Kurt," Finn said, seeing the look on Kurt's face. "I'm really trying to think of every good reason not to do what I want to do. I know that you don't want me to get hurt, but I'm just trying to look out for you. Something even worse could have happened to you today, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had to be visiting you at a hospital or anything." Finn shrugged, but Kurt nodded. Kurt knew that it was taking every ounce of Finn to stop himself from exploding again.

"You guys need to get away from all this shit," Puck observed, Kurt and Finn both nodding with the "you think" face on. "How about we try to act like normal people here and do something fun...how about a movie?"

"At this hour?" Kurt asked.

"What, you got a bedtime?" Puck looked over at him. "We can go to the drive-thru, if you fall asleep at least it will be in the car."

"I'm in," Finn said, looking at Kurt. "You don't have to go, but I need to go out and do something."

"Fine," Kurt said, smiling. "On one condition... we have to invite Quinn."

"She's probably asleep," Finn said, looking at the floor, trying not to look Puck in the face.

"Nah, she'll be up for it," Puck chuckled. "Being pregnant makes her schedule all messed up, trust me. We'll pick her up on the way."

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

"Whose idea was it to let them pick the movie?" Quinn looked at Kurt as Puck and Finn let out another loud rawr of approval at the large explosion in the action movie they were watching. Kurt shrugged, he had tried to get into the movie, but it was just such a typical guy movie, and even though there were half naked men on screen, their pants didn't match their eyes. Needless to say, his interest was waning terribly an hour and half in.

"I need to stretch my legs," he said, tapping Finn on the shoulder.

"I'll join you," Quinn said, happy to have any excuse get up and move around.

"Ok, well don't go too far," Finn started, but seeing the look on Kurt's face, "Just meet us back here when you are done." Kurt and Quinn nodded and got out of Puck's car.

They walked past a bunch of cars before finding a nice spot by the vacant concession stand. Quinn sat on the bench nearby while Kurt found a nice rock to rest on.

"Did you see everyone staring at me when we walked up here?" Kurt asked, trying to joke about it. "I think I even heard car doors lock when we passed... I must pass as a pretty good thug."

"How do you know they weren't staring at me?" Quinn stated. "You do have some pretty bad marks on you, but it's not like you have suddenly become a different person entirely. Trust me, after getting my share of stares from everyone, I've learned that the best way to approach it is that they stare because they're afraid. They don't want to believe that girls my age can get pregnant, or that sweet guys like you can be assaulted because you're different."

"We're too good for them," Kurt nodded, looking at Quinn. "I don't know how or why, but I can't help but think that after all that's happened, we're on a higher ground because we've been where most people haven't." Quinn nodded in agreement, before she and Kurt turned towards a noise. Of course, they would be here, Kurt hadn't even wanted to turn around to face them anyway.

"Nice face, Hummel," One of the jocks who had beat him up stepped closer to him and Quinn, followed by his goon-ish friend. "I think we missed a few spots, though. And Quinn, what happened to you? You used to be cool, and we even though you were hot when you were pregnant, but now you're hanging around with this queer and his boyfriend?"

"Finn's not my boyfriend," Kurt said abruptly, swallowing the lump in his throat as if he had to swallow his own words and accept that Finn was straight. "Why can't you just go find something constructive to do with your lives? I hear the gas station down the road is hiring idiots to scare away underage kids from buying beer and porn, isn't that what you guys live off of?"

"They'd never get the job," Quinn hissed. "You have to be able to spell your name on a name-tag just to get an interview."

"Big talk for two losers," the jock retorted. "So how about it Hummel? You want another round?" He took a plastic cup from his friend and removed the top, it was their weapon of choice before their fists, a ice cold slushie. "Quinn, you can stand next to my buddy here and watch, we can't hit a pregnant bitch." He spat out the word 'bitch' and Quinn seemed to flinch just slightly. "But maybe we can convince you that hanging with the right crowd can only help you." He reached over to try and touch Quinn's arm, but Kurt smacked his hand away and got between him and Quinn.

"You assholes don't have the sense God gave a goat," Kurt spat. "You won't touch her, I swear I'll-"

"Give us the 'gay'?" the jock taunted. "You gonna recruit us for your gay army Hummel, we'll start with you and get you out of the way." the jock leaned forward to pour the slushie all over Kurt, the jock next to him tensing up and curling his hands into fists. Kurt braced himself, but didn't move an inch, keeping his body between Quinn and the icy terror coming for his face, he squeezed his eyes shut.

When nothing happened, Kurt opened them to see a strong hand clasped around the jock's wrist, rendering him unable move his arm at all. The jock looked over to see the glaring face of Puck, who took the slushie out of his hands.

"Baby," Puck's voice had a slight growl to it. "Hold this for a sec." He handed her the slushie, returning his attention to the jock. "So you think you can slushie my man Kurt because he tried to protect my baby mama?" The jock opened his mouth to say something, but before he could blink, Puck had landed a mean punch on his face. Lifting him up off the ground, Puck laid another punch, and another. While this was going on, the other jock came over and shoved Kurt, who fell backwards as Quinn clumsily tried to catch him with her free hand. The jock raised his fist, when suddenly Finn came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground. The two boys proceeded to beat the crap out of the jocks, only Finn didn't stop when Puck let up on his target, who immediately turned and ran, Puck yelling after him, "If I find out your sorry ass has even looked at Kurt or Quinn the wrong way again, I'll make your life a living HELL!" Finn was still laying punch after punch on his target, when Puck came over and tried to pry him off.

"Get off me!" Finn yelled. "This fucker is going to feel what pain is!"

"Finn!" Kurt's voice suddenly rang clear in Finn's head. Stopping, he looked over at Kurt who was walking towards him, looking a bit frightened, or maybe it was excited. "I-I think you've made your point." Kurt placed a gentle hand on Finn's shoulder, and Finn let go of the jock who fell to the ground, moaning in pain. Quinn came over, slushie in hand.

"You look like you're in pain," she smirked. "You should ice that." She proceeded to slowly pour the slushie all over the jock, who coughed and sputtered as the drink went all over him. "You jackass." Quinn hissed as she threw the empty cup at him. The jock struggled to his feet, limping off in the same direction as his friend.

"Yeah, you better run!" Puck yelled after him, as Quinn came over and took his hand, leading him back to the bench. "I'm fine baby, no scratches I promise." Quinn laughed and stroked his arm.

Kurt was standing in front of Finn now, who seemed to be looking past him, wanting to go after the punk who had just ran away from a fight.

"Finn," Kurt said, snapping him back to attention. At first, Finn thought Kurt looked upset, after all, he didn't want them to have to resort to beating anyone. "Thank you." Kurt finally said, breathing.

"No problem," Finn nodded. "I know it's not what you wanted-"

"Forget what I wanted," Kurt said, shaking his head. "I was selfish to think I could stop you from following your heart. I may not like what has happened...but I can't tell you how grateful I am."

"I know you would do the same," Finn said, staring at the ground. "You think you need to shoulder so much of the weight of the world, Kurt," He looked at Kurt, giving him one of those heart-melting smiles. "I'm just hear to help you understand you don't have to do it by yourself." Kurt nodded, hesitantly stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Finn, who looked at Quinn and Puck as if he wasn't sure if they cared to see his and Kurt's unconventional show of brotherly love.

"Hug him back you dumbass!" Puck said, pointing out the obvious answer. Finn held Kurt tight, there were no tears this time, it was just him holding Kurt, protecting Kurt.

"How did you guys even know we were up here?" Quinn broke the silence.

"Um..." Finn hesitated, but Kurt looked up at him, curious as well about the answer he was going to give. "We sort of.. followed you." Quinn rolled her eyes but smiled, and Kurt's mouth dropped open. Finn tried to salvage what was left of their moment. "It just really boring and quiet in the car without you!" he said, defending himself. "We saw you guys at the concession stand so we followed at a safe distance!"

"And it's good we did," Puck was addressing Kurt now, who still had his mouth hanging open. "Hummel, you put yourself on the line for Quinn when I wasn't around, and you know I appreciate that and I got your back too from now on.. but let's be honest, you wouldn't have been able to take on both of them by yourself and you," he turned to Quinn because he knew she'd have something to say. "You aren't supposed to be doing anything too stressful while you're pregnant. Finn and I just took care of business is all."

"Well, I can't be angry with you," Kurt said, looking at Finn who had a nervous grin on his face. "But your stalker level has definitely gone up at least 10 points for following me around at a drive-thru." Finn laughed at Kurt's joke, reaching out to playfully swat Kurt's arm. Kurt promptly reached up, grabbed a fistful of Finn's hair, and gave it a little tug. "We've talked about that, Hudson," Kurt smiled. "Remember when we tried to watch _Braveheart_?" Finn ruffled Kurt's hair.

"I love you, dude," Finn said and Kurt froze. Every nerve in his body was on edge. "You are the coolest, and I love you." "I...I love you too, Finn," Kurt said, and Quinn could see the meaning in his eyes, she had to smile.

"Let's get you home," Finn smiled. "You look so tired." Kurt was still frozen on the spot, and Finn had to wave his hand in front of Kurt's face and snap his fingers to get Kurt to come back to reality. "Dude, you need to get some sleep." Finn said laughing.

"The car isn't that far away, let's get out of here." Puck said as he took Quinn's hand in his and the two began to walk back to the car, followed by Finn, who looked back to see Kurt trailing behind, a smile on his face.

"Come on, Kurt," Finn chuckled, reaching out his hand to Kurt, who was very hesitant all of a sudden. Finn took the initiative and grabbed Kurt's hand, lacing their fingers together, and pulling Kurt along in his stride. Finn gave Kurt's hand a tight squeeze. "I'm glad you're ok," he said gently. "Just remember that you don't have to deal with this shit all alone. I'm always going to be there for you, I think you're kind of stuck with me for life." Finn smiled down at Kurt.

"You're impossible, Finn Hudson," Kurt shook his head, smiling back. "I like that about you."

Finn chuckled and helped Kurt into the back of Puck's car.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Finn turned on the sink water downstairs in his and Kurt's bathroom, running his hands under it, his knuckles had started to bleed slightly from the fight earlier, he winced as the water ran over the painful spots.

"I don't want to see your hands," Kurt said as he got under the covers in his bed. "I don't do well with seeing other people's blood." Finn came out of the bathroom and plopped down on Kurt's bed, putting his entire hand over Kurt's face.

"Ahhhh, the bloooooood!" he joked as Kurt struggled to take his hand off. "It's so bloody and disgusting!" he laughed as Kurt shoved his hand away, then took it back, examining it.

"You must pack a mean punch, Hudson," He said, eyes widening. "Either that, or you're just a weakling who bleeds easy."

"Oh a weakling huh?" Finn laughed and grabbed Kurt by the waist, yanking him from his bed and throwing him on to Finn's bed. "Oh no! Gravity!" Finn fell almost on top of Kurt, who moved away at the last second, leaving Finn to laugh uncontrollably.

"You have too much energy for this late," Kurt said, making his way back to his bed and getting back under the covers.

"You know you love me anyway," Finn said, laughing. "Goodnight, Finn," Kurt said, waving a hand at him. "You will not get me to say that again." Finn giggled and stared at the ceiling. He had done a good thing tonight, he had proved to Kurt that he wasn't out to control his life, even at the expense of becoming Kurt's stalker. Not to mention all those feelings he kept bottled up were let out and he finally got what he wanted out of the situation. Kurt's light snore reached his ears, and he turned to look at him. Kurt wasn't joking about being tired, he was out cold within 5 minutes of getting in bed. Finn chuckled and turned on his side, watching Kurt sleep was like watching a puppy dream about chasing bunnies in a meadow, he thought. Every once in a while, Kurt would twitch or move in his sleep, and then he had the cutest smile on his face as he went back to snoring ever so softly. Finn got up quietly, and headed over to his desk. He found two note cards and a pen and wrote separate things on them. Heading over to Kurt's mirror area, he set down the card that said: _You are loved_. Right next to it, he put the continuation on the second card: _You are crazy, obsessive, and sometimes frightening...but above all else, you are and will always be loved. I promise._

Taking out his phone, he sent a message to Quinn.

_Glad we were all able to go out tonight...will be coming over within the next few days to work on the present._

It didn't take her long to answer.

_Take your time, it will be here when you need it. Is Kurt asleep yet?_

Finn arched an eyebrow. _Yeah, fell asleep like 5 minutes after he got in bed. He snores like a mouse sucking on helium...it's adorable._

**A/N:** Woot for chapter 3! I hope you all enjoyed it! It was very much a filler chapter for me, I wanted to still deal with what went on, but add a lighter side to the situation. And let's face it, I had to give Finn what he wanted, he needed to get rid of that excess rage haha. Puck will be used more often as well, I think he has his good moments, he definitely comes through for his friends when he has to! Please submit a review! Chapter 4 will be coming soon, I still have to sort through a few things for it, but it will probably be longer than this chapter. Reviews help the inspiration flow, so if you want Chapter 4 sooner, leave one! It means so much to me that you guys take the time to leave reviews, I can't thank you enough!

Until next time!

~BlueRain26


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Don't own nothing :P

**A/N: **And here is chapter 4! As usual, the reviews were awesome, I'm glad you guys liked chapter 3-I had some severe writer's block for some of it... it took a while to write! And here is, I'm sure, your favorite part-the part where I answer some stuff!

Ok, there was a very interesting review, very unique and the only review that mentioned this-the dropping of the "l" word (dun dun dun!) My answer to the statement that it was pretty quick for Finn and Kurt to be saying they loved each other-There is a method to my madness! The idea in progress for this story is the very unconventional relationship Finn and Kurt have. Kurt has his own feelings about Finn he has to work on, and Finn has new feelings for Kurt that he is dealing with. Finn told Kurt he loved him in Chapter 3 as a brother, in not so many words. I don't feel like if I put "I love you" as a line for a character, that the character owes any explanation as to the nature of their love... much like my philosophy in life, Love is unconventional. It is not like Finn confessed his undying love for Kurt and they made out and started ripping each other's clothes off! ^_^ Trust me, there is a direction where this is going, and I think Finn can say he loves Kurt and have that be the end of it...doesn't mean he is in love with him, just that he loves him...maybe ponder that for a while and let me know what you guys think. Finn and Kurt have known each other for a while, because I am using the series as a starting point, so it's not like they have just met and are screwing each other already haha...but that's just my opinion and my thoughts. As usual, reviews are very much appreciated, and please don't shy away from constructive criticism, I am by no means trying to shoot down anyone's thoughts or points, just giving my explanation as the author, I hope the story can speak for itself!-that being said, remember what's going on in the story, and think about your position, as I have in response to the reviews-you guys have excellent points, and I enjoy reading every review! much appreciated and loved! Enjoy Chapter 4-REVIEW :)

**Chapter Four**

Finn woke up to the smell of strawberry... Kurt had just gotten out of the shower, and had gotten dressed in the bathroom at the risk of Finn charging in like a madman again and snapping another embarrassing photo of him. Rubbing his eyes, Finn sat up, straining his eyes to get a clear focus of the room. Kurt placed a few things on his bed, and turned around to gaze at Finn.

"I'm going to go make breakfast," he announced, as if channelling Martha Stewart. "I can make you something if you want to shower..."

"That would be great," Finn said, clearing his throat and stretching. "I'll be up in a few." "No rush, Hudson," Kurt smiled. "I don't have to go out hunting for our breakfast." he laughed and headed upstairs to get started. Finn just let out a long breath and stood up, hearing his joints creak in his legs as they did after a long night of Finn curling up and sprawling out into ridiculous positions in bed, trying to find that one perfect spot. Stretching his arms over his head, he went over to his closet and got his clothes for the day. White t-shirt, Blue flannel shirt, Jeans, and socks...today was one of those days Finn just randomly took out whatever he could find from his closet and hoped it didn't look too ridiculous.

Taking off the clothes he slept in, Finn headed into the bathroom and shut the door, turning on the shower, setting the water to a pretty hot temperature. Getting in slowly, Finn let the water wake him up little by little, plastering his hair to his head. He reached over and grabbed his body wash and scrubbed himself down, the smell floating to his nose. He breathed it in, feeling his body finally jolt fully awake as he worked the lather off of his skin. Finishing off with washing his hair, Finn stood in the shower, just letting the water hit him and slide off his body down to the drain.

He wondered if Kurt got his notecards he left him? More importantly, how did he take it? Finn didn't want to overstep too many boundaries, he and Kurt had already hugged, cried in each other's arms, and held hands... it was pretty much the opposite of what most brothers did in their lifetime, at least from what Finn was used to seeing and hearing about. He meant everything he said on the notecards, he wanted to be there for Kurt, as someone he could always fall back on. Someone who wasn't ashamed or embarrassed to be seen holding hands with him in public.

_We were friends first,_ Finn thought, the hot water continuing to hit his body, keeping a steady pulse in his thoughts. _We aren't technically brothers yet...what's wrong with a little guy love?_ Finn shut the water off and got out of the shower, drying off and slipping on his pants. He wiped the condensation from the mirror on the wall, fixing his hair with no real effort to make it something special, it pretty much just found it's own place to rest and Finn was content with that. Putting on the rest of his clothes, Finn headed up the stairs and into the kitchen.

Kurt was sliding an omelette onto a plate, a large apron that obviously belonged to his father that said, "Kiss me, I'm feeding you greedy bastards." Finn couldn't help but laugh at how well it fit Kurt's personality, and Kurt looked up at the sound of Finn's laugh.

"You are just _living_ in flannel this weekend, Hudson," Kurt gave him the once over. "Not that I can complain, my eyes are used to seeing you in such things... but the children, Finn... think of the children." Finn chuckled at Kurt's joke, reaching over to ruffle Kurt's hair. Kurt moved away at the last second, handing Finn the plate in somewhat of a hurry. "Breakfast is served!" he said quickly, moving over to the other side of the counter and beginning to eat his usual bowl of cereal. Finn, confused by Kurt's sudden move, just ate his breakfast, neither of the two saying a thing the entire time, except the occasional awkward observation about the weather, "Slightly cloudy," as Finn so awkwardly observed, Kurt just nodding. Finn finished his breakfast, going around to Kurt's side of the counter, where the sink was. He made to slide past Kurt, who just moved again to another location, causing Finn to arch an eyebrow at him before putting his plate in the sink. Turning to face Kurt, Finn tried to read what was going on in this boy's head. Kurt was a brick wall, nothing could penetrate those defenses, at least not easily, and Finn had no desire to think on one of his last days of the long weekend. Shrugging, he walked towards Kurt at a safe distance and made to go to the living room, but Kurt stopped him.

"Finn," Kurt said, putting a hand on Finn's chest to stop him, then removing it quickly. "Can we talk for a second?"

"Sure," Finn said, shrugging and pulling up a chair to the counter, Kurt walking around to the other side, across from Finn.

"I got your notecards on my stand this morning," Kurt said. Finn nodded, he knew that, he left them there after all. "And I find it flattering that you are taking this role of my perhaps soon-to-be-brother so seriously...but that's just it. I'm not used to it, I'm not used to you being so...so forward with everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked, standing up. "I mean, it sounded like something bad, but I actually don't quite get where you are going with this..."

"The notes and hugs and times spent together holding hands are nice," Kurt said, taking a deep breath. "They're great, actually, more than I could ever ask for...but it's too much for me right now." Finn stared at Kurt, where had all this come from? Kurt just last night said how grateful he was to Finn for being there for him, and protecting him

"Dude, you are really starting to confuse me," He said, frowning. "Just last night, we were fine, and now all of a sudden we can't spend time together? And since when are hugs on your list of things you hate?"

"I don't hate them," Kurt said, stepping closer to the counter. "And I don't hate you either, so please don't get so upset over this-"

"I'm not upset!" Finn's voice grew. "I'm confused because you aren't making any sense!"

"Please lower your voice, Finn."

"Why? Why should-" Finn caught himself, it didn't have to go this way. He didn't have to yell at Kurt for sharing his feelings with him. "Just explain to me what you want from me."

"I just think we need to back off each other a little," Kurt said, looking down at the counter. "It's not so much you, it's me..."

"Oh please," Finn was looking at Kurt straight in the eyes now. "Do you know how many times I've heard that? Do you know how many times I've said that to someone? It's a phony way of saying it's all the other person's fault, but you don't want to hurt their feelings...how stupid do you think I am, Kurt?"

"I didn't say you were stupid-"

"No, but you're treating me like that," Finn said, trying to control the anger in his voice. "It's like, everything I've done, it was all for nothing..."

"I never said that I didn't appreciate everything you have done recently," Kurt replied, even he was annoyed now. "If you will recall, however, it was not my intention or my desire for that jock to have the crap beaten out of him."

"Oh!" Finn threw up his arms, as if it were all clear to him now. "So, the fact that I saved your ass last night is now suddenly just nothing!"

"I didn't say that-"

"Not directly," Finn said, pointing a finger at Kurt. "But you know that's what you meant. You think you can get past saying things by using your fancy words or by skating around the real issue."

"I don't get your vague hockey reference, Finn-"

"See!" Finn said, cutting Kurt off and pointing a finger at him. "That's what I mean! You know exactly what I'm talking about and you just took advantage of my feelings to make a joke. You thrive on making situations funny for yourself so you don't have to deal with the problem-"

"I threw away your notecards," Kurt said, somewhat loudly and suddenly. Finn just looked at him. "It was too much Finn. I'm glad you will always be there for me, but you and I both know that they love you talk about isn't the love I talk about..."

"That's your problem, not mine," Finn stated dryly, not sure if he meant it. "I'm straight, we've talked about this. I thought I would be nice to you because you needed someone who could help you with your issues the way you helped me with mine."

"I don't need anyone's help," Kurt said coldly. "I can take care of myself."

"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" Finn scoffed at him. "And it could have been worse, it could have been worse last night, Kurt. You would be on the lunch menu next week at school if Puck and I didn't show up. You say you're grateful for what I did...but you want me to stop doing it. I don't know why, but you have a huge chip on your shoulder, and I've been trying to hack away at the thing to get you to see what everyone else sees... but you're too invested in yourself to care." Kurt looked as if Finn had been the one to give him the mark on his face, which was bruising but the swelling had gone down. Finn looked at Kurt's face, then at his bruise. "You know if that jerk hit you again in the same spot, he could have ruined your face," Finn reached up to touch Kurt's face, but Kurt backed away quickly, his eyes piercing Finn. "Then what would you feel when you looked in your mirror?" Kurt was fighting back his overgrowing want to punch Finn again, his hands clenched tightly at his side.

"I'd live," he responded finally to Finn's insult. "I'd get on with my life, there are plenty of things I can do and do well, I don't need a pretty face to prove who I am as a person..."

"No, you don't," Finn nodded. "But your piss-poor attitude doesn't do much for you. It helps to have a fallback." "A fallback?" Kurt wasn't going to lie down to Finn's insults anymore. "Like, a brother? Sorry, already got one, complete with brain the size of a pea, and the emotional range of a teaspoon! I paid extra for the smothering with 'brotherly' love, where is the return line?"

Finn just stood there, shocked that those words had actually just came from Kurt. Kurt seemed to be almost as shocked, his eyes widening, but still piercing as he stood his ground.

"You," Finn pointed a finger at Kurt, who flinched at the sound of Finn's voice. "Are ungrateful. You say one thing, mean another thing, and want something completely different. You lead people to think that they're close with you, that they can share anything with you. You make me think I can tell you anything, nothing was off-limits. I stuck up for you, even put myself on the line for you, making sure that you don't get beaten to a pulp a second time no less," Finn could only stand there, breathing heavy, his chest heaving with anger. "And all you can do is stand there and tell me I'm being too creepy for you."

Finn shook his head and walked over and grabbed his coat from off the table. Slipping it on, he grabbed his keys and headed for the door.

"Finn...Finn wait!" Finn turned to see that Kurt had been following him to the door, as Kurt almost ran into Finn before regaining his balance. "Where are you going?" Kurt tried to reach out and tug at Finn's sleeve, but Finn just slapped his hand away.

"I'm leaving," Finn said, sternly. "I'm not going to fight with you anymore, Kurt. I'll talk, anytime, anywhere, about anything... my offer still stands because I keep my word, I protect people I love because I have to." Kurt looked up at Finn, astonished he wasn't calling him names or anything. "I don't understand why you our friendship has to drop off the face of the Earth, but I'll be waiting. If you ever have enough courage to talk to me like a man, like a friend, like a brother, or like whatever you call it, you come find me. From this point on, I will talk, but I won't fight for you. I tried fighting for you, and you just threw me under the bus for it." Finn opened the front door and stepped outside, turning to see the last glance of Kurt's face, which read all sorts of pain. Finn honestly didn't care right now, Kurt needed to learn this. "Thanks for breakfast." Finn shut the door and headed out to his car.

Kurt just stood at the place where Finn left him, watching out the window as Finn's truck pulled out of the driveway and drove off. What had he done? He just wanted to have a civilized conversation with Finn about what his feelings were about the sudden affection Finn had been given him. It took most of Kurt's strength to turn around and head back to the kitchen, where he leaned against the counter.

_You...are ungrateful._

Finn's words still stung in Kurt's ears, he pulled up a chair and sat down, he felt a bit dizzy.

_I tried fighting for you, and you just threw me under the bus for it._

Kurt felt anger boil up from inside him. He was trying to be honest with Finn and then Finn goes and tries to place all the blame and all the negative emotions back on him. Finn sat there and lectured him about all his fallacies, without taking any real responsibility for his own. Kurt knew his joke about Finn being an item he could stand in a return line for was out of line. It was one of those things people say in anger, and then fight the rest of their lives to take back, if the other person will even give them another chance.

Kurt took out his phone and pondered calling Quinn or Puck, but to involve them in another one of his and Finn's problems would be unfair to them, they had their own relationship to focus on, Kurt wasn't going to drag them down another tumultuous road. Kurt sighed and tapped his phone on the counter, nervously, before getting up and pacing around his kitchen. He wasn't sure what this was going to accomplish, but he had seen Finn do it and it seemed to help him, why not try it. It took 10 minutes of pacing for Kurt to be able to take a few deep breaths and realize Finn's last statement before he left,

_ I'll talk, anytime, anywhere, about anything... my offer still stands because I keep my word...From this point on, I will talk, but I won't fight for you..._

He could call Finn right now. He could apologize for everything he said, take it all back, and hope that Finn would come home, and they could go about their day as they should have, without this stupid fight looming over their heads. Kurt almost dialed Finn's number when he put his phone down. He had to give Finn his space, especially since he had just demanded Finn give him his. Kurt was beginning to realize how Finn felt, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. It was a feeling of emptiness, the one person you wanted to see just a bit less of, has left and now he felt he would never see Finn again. Finn would probably come back later in the day, but what if he ignored Kurt? Kurt tried to take that a positive, since Finn could also technically not come back for the rest of the day, leaving Kurt alone with his thoughts... just like he asked and was now realizing he didn't want. It wasn't enough that Kurt loved Finn, but now that their parents were dating, he had to find a way to see Finn as "just a friend" or something like that. Finn wasn't making it any easier by writing lovely notecards and leaving them on Kurt's mirror-station in the morning. Reaching into his pockets, Kurt took out again the notecards, whole and not thrown away, holding them in his hands before putting them down on the counter to look at them.

_You are loved. You are crazy, obsessive, and sometimes frightening...but above all else, you are and will always be loved. I promise. _

Anger tried to rise again in Kurt _Yeah right, some promise, where is he now? _Kurt fought that voice as best he could. _Finn left, and he left because I told him I wanted him to back off. I got what I wanted... there are consequences to what I say, I will just have to deal with them..._ Kurt thought about his earlier actions... could Finn ever get over what he said? and would he keep his promise? There was only one way to find out, so he took out his phone and dialed Finn's number.

Voicemail.

Kurt hung up and began his pacing again. He now fully understood what Finn was going through. All the wondering if what he was doing was too much even though he wanted nothing else but to see Finn walk through the door. Then, his phone vibrated, he had a text message.

_You rang?_

Finn's phone vibrated from inside his pocket... a text message from Kurt.

_I need someone to talk to...some jackass just got into a stupid argument with me, then he left. Now, I'm all by myself and realizing that it's the complete opposite of what I wanted. I feel awful, because the jackass isn't really a jackass... I am._

Finn flinched slightly, he didn't want Kurt to feel so bad about himself, he was trying to take responsibility for his actions too.

_I'm sure you're not a jackass, I think you just had to burn your fingers a little in order to learn what fire was._

_ Very insightful... _Kurt replied

_It happens, sometimes when I talk brilliant things just flow out. I try to say what's on my mind, I guess..._ Finn sent the message, breathing.

_I didn't give you the chance to say what you wanted._

_ And I didn't give you the respect you deserve. _Finn replied, trying to help shoulder the emotions. It was hard when things were over text messages and he wasn't sure how awkward things were still between them.

_I'm sorry._

Finn felt a great weight lifted off his chest when Kurt sent him that. Yes, he had only been away from the house for about 30 minutes, and the chances that Kurt had a complete turn around and now everything was good between them were pretty slim...but he gave Kurt his word, and no matter what, he meant to keep it just as he said he would. Finn smiled to himself, because secretly he knew Kurt wouldn't last that long, which is why he had only driven 2 minutes down the street before parking the car and waiting for Kurt to text him. Turning his truck around, Finn headed back to see what would go down next.

Finn walked in the front door, half expecting Kurt to come running, tears streaming down his face, but he never came. Finn found Kurt in the kitchen, where it had all started, sitting at the counter. Finn put his coat and keys down before pulling up his own chair, across the counter from Kurt, who Finn could tell wanted to move closer to him, but didn't. He understood how Finn felt, at least that was the vibe Finn got.

"This is really hard for me," Kurt said, tensing slightly. Finn nodded, and shrugged.

"Dude," he said, calmly and cooly. "I came home because you wanted to talk. So talk." Finn wasn't going to let Kurt down gently just because he apologized.

"I just don't know where to begin," Kurt took a deep breath. "What I said about needing to return you as if you were a gift was totally out of line. I was angry...it's not an excuse, but Finn, put yourself in my shoes," Kurt looked at him, pleadingly. "You have a crush on someone, then you have to work at not having such a big crush on them. Then, you start to become amazing friends with the person, who all of a sudden starts to reciprocate those affections, although their intentions are different... it feels the same."

"I don't need an excuse or a detailed disclaimer to explain why I said you were loved," Finn said. "...because you are. It's true, and not just love from me, but from everyone. Our friends and our family...everyone loves you, and you know that. You just are always in a position or situation where I have to remind you that you mean so much to me. Which I don't mind doing, because you do...but then don't turn around and tell me that I can't say that." Finn shook his head. "I won't let you tell me what I can or can't say. You are important to me, if something happens to you, I will worry. If you do something funny, I will laugh. And if I so choose, I will say I love you. You know how I mean it, you know that I mean it... and I won't apologize for feeling that way, Kurt, just like you wouldn't ever apologize for being you."

Kurt nodded, he felt like crap, but Finn was right. He had a huge chip on his shoulder, and Finn shouldn't have to be the one having to do all the work of dismantling that chip from Kurt's shoulder.

"I don't know what else to say," Kurt said, shaking his head. "I expected to be feeling much more, but I don't feel a thing... is that bad?"

"You tell me," Finn said, shrugging. "I feel awful for what I said. I know you are grateful, you can see it in your face. It just seems like you become numb to everyone else because you don't want your problems to spill over on to everyone else...but Kurt, that's what friends are for. Good friends, anyway. They will always be there to help you not because they pity you or think you are a weakling who needs it, but because they are your friends and want to help you. You keep saying that you understand...but I'm not sure if you do, and I don't know why."

Kurt looked down at the counter, he was officially done. He had nothing to say because Finn was right, he could only slowly nod his head. As he did, he felt the tears coming, and he fought them back again, each time it was getting harder. Finn, noticing that Kurt was fighting back his emotions again, could only slowly walk over to Kurt. Kurt looked up at Finn, who was smiling down at him.

"What do you say we take that brick wall you have up apart...one brick at a time." Finn said, smiling. Kurt collapsed into Finn's chest, crying his eyes out. Finn didn't hug right away, he stroked Kurt's arm, encouraging him to get it all out. It wasn't until Kurt looked up at him, brushed away his tears and took a deep breath.

"I'm crazy, obsessive, and sometimes frightening," Kurt said, Finn smiling back at him as he took out the notecards to show Finn he had not thrown them away like he said he did. "I have a huge chip on my shoulder and every time something stressful happens to me, I put up a wall so no one can get in and get caught up in my problems. I say things I don't mean, I cry all the time, and I ask for space when in reality, being alone scares the crap out of me. I'm so far from perfect for you as even a friend, but I'd like to keep trying..."

Then Finn hugged him, tight...and Kurt felt heard him whisper in his ear, "Kurt, you don't have to try, you will always be exactly where you have always been when it comes to me. Nothing is going to change just because we have a few arguments."

"Then why would you put me through this?" Kurt asked, relieved but confused.

"Like I said," Finn said smiling. "You have to burn your fingers to learn what fire is."

"Fuck that." Kurt said shortly, Finn laughed.

"And you say I'm impossible..." Finn said, chuckling.

**A/N:** So...good chapter? I know someone will probably say that they got over the fight way to fast...but Finn was never really in the fight... he was just pissed. He knew Kurt wouldn't last by himself trying to deal with his problems, because Finn knows it's all a tough front that Kurt puts up... yay for Finn being able to (hopefully) break down Kurt's barriers! ^_^ SUBMIT A REVIEW!

Until next time!

~BlueRain26


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** standard disclaimers apply

**A/N:** Hello all! So glad you al enjoyed Chapter 4, it certainly put some things into perspective! Yes, Finn was kind of being a bit of a jerk to Kurt when they were talking about the differences in their love. Finn still doesn't know how to deal with it, he's trying, but every so often he resorts back to "old Finn"...it's not nice, but he will be working on it!

That's really all I have to address because I have a little story to tell you about this next chapter. Personally, I really like this chapter, I think you all will too...at least I hope so! I came up with the ideas for this chapter when I was at work, I was working a midnight shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. ...I know, crazy. I brought my notebook with me, figuring I would jot down a few ideas for this chapter and maybe get a planning head start on future chapters...Long story short, I wrote 10 pages worth of notes for this chapter... it's amazing how the inspiration flows when you are hyped up on caffeine! ^_-

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and as always, please review! I was so pleased with the reviews for chapter 4, there were some really good ones! Thanks again!

**Chapter Five**

Finn and Kurt had settled into the living room, Kurt flipping on the TV, turning it to the News. It was amazing that this was the first amount of normal TV they had watched since the weekend began.

"I hope they just skip the pointless stuff and get to the weather," Kurt mumbled. "Dad said it was storming pretty bad where they were last time I talked to him, I wonder if they got any sun since then..." Finn shrugged and returned his attention to the TV. The first topic was a huge storm that had hit in a place that made Kurt sit up straight, a certain degree of familiarity filling him. The reporter was standing in front of an airport sign, the camera zooming out to show the airport in a rather disheveled state. Windows were blown in, some of the building was actually crumbling, pieces of debris falling to the ground as the reporter was commenting on the state of things. Apparently, a massive storm had just ripped through this town, bad enough that flights were cancelled, and people were encouraged to evacuate. While the reporter continued talking, images of people packing up their cars and trying to drive out of the area were flashed on the screen, as well as a bunch of people packed together in a large area, cots and volunteers serving food. The reporter stated it was a place of safety for those who couldn't evacuate, stating that the storms continued on and off, canceling all flights out of the area. Kurt's eyes, widened in horror when the reporter stepped away from the airport sign, revealing the name Kurt was hoping was not the case. Kurt immediately shot up off the couch, and began fussing around with a bunch of vacation info papers his Dad had left him, Finn looking at him confused.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Finn sat up straight, Kurt was really going through the papers at an alarming rate. "Why are you stressing right now?" Kurt finally found the paper he was looking for, showing it to Finn.

"Look!" He said, his eyes wide with horror. "That airport on TV, that's the airport our parents landed in and are supposed to leave from." It only took Finn about 2 minutes before he started panicking too, taking out his phone and dialing his Mom's number. Sighing impatiently, he hung up the phone when it went straight to voicemail, Kurt dialing his Dad's number and getting the same response. The TV wasn't helping with all of this, images of the storm's devastation, and although people weren't needing to be rescued by helicopter, it was still not a pretty picture to behold. Finn looked over at Kurt, who was visibly shaking with fear, Finn was a bit more reserved with his emotions. He could have been shaking as well, but he felt he had to be strong for Kurt, in case his emotions suddenly exploded. Kurt gave him a helpless, "what do we do?" look. Finn just shrugged and returned some of his attention to the TV.

"I guess all we can do is wait for one of them to call," Finn said, seeing how scared that made Kurt. "I mean, if it was really terrible, they would have called us-" Finn was cut off as his phone rang, it was his Mom. Finn struggled nervously to pick it up and answer it, putting it on speaker phone. "Mom!" he almost shouted into the phone. "What is going on? We just turned on the news-"

"Oh, Finn, honey, calm down," Carole's voice said through the other line. "We're both fine, but we've been without power for a few days, internet is down, so Burt and I shut off our phones to conserve battery, we should have called earlier-"

"You think?" Finn was turning red. "Mom, what happened? Kurt and I were...are really worried about you guys! The last we heard from Burt was it was a little stormy...when did this happen?"

"Just recently," Carole said. "We were going to call, but we had to find a place to stay first. We were lucky enough to get an outgoing cab to take us a few hours away to a hotel, we are paying with the extra money we brought. We are tired, but we are fine, nothing was lost or damaged, I promise."

"I don't care if your hairdryer got sucked into a vortex of doom," Finn said, Kurt arching an eyebrow at him. "As long as you are both safe and are going to keep us updated on your situation."

"We will, I promise," Carole said. "We have power here so we can charge our phones. We don't think we want to rent a car, it would just suck up the rest of the funds we have left with gas and everything else. Burt says he has relatives a little while away, we are trying to get ahold of them to see if they can come pick us up, but when there is a no unnecessary travel warning, it's hard to get anyone to come even close to us, and there are no outgoing flights for a while, so we may be here for a bit longer. I promise Finn, we will make it home as soon as we can...but until then, we have to wait it out here. I have to go plug in my phone, but Burt's is almost done charging, he says he will call Kurt soon ok?-Finn?" Carole prompted when Finn was delayed in replying.

"Yeah, ok, fine Mom, thanks for calling," He said, still processing everything. "Be careful, be safe and come home soon ok? and call us next time something happens." Carole gave her love and hung up the phone. Both boys sat there, staring at Finn's phone. Although relieved their parents were ok, they were still both very worried, how had they not heard about this in the papers, or from friends? It was all very confusing, and Finn was debating if he should say what he was thinking before this had come up.

"Well," he said, looking at Kurt. "I think we should continue watching the news for any updates, and wait for your Dad to call, but before this happened, I was thinking...maybe we could have Puck and Quinn come over tonight... just to chill out? I think it would be helpful at this point, just to get our minds off things..." Kurt stared at him, shock on his face.

"Honestly, Finn," Kurt said. "I can't believe you can possibly even be thinking about anything else, much less having a party when our parents are stuck out in a sleazy hotel in the middle of a storm. I'm not mad at you," Kurt said, seeing Finn's posture slouch slightly. "I'm not... I just..."

"...worry," Finn nodded, he understood. "Yeah, I know."

Kurt's phone went off, it was his Dad, so he answered but didn't put in on speakerphone. "Dad?" He said, his voice carrying worry in it. "Dad why didn't you-? Yes, Carole told us about that but-Dad, I'm not being crazy right now," Kurt smiled slightly at his father telling him not to get crazy over this, he knew he worried too much. "Ok... ok yeah I will do that, no Finn and I are staying in tonight," Kurt suddenly squinted and gave a slight grin. "Ok...I'll let him know." he said, turning to Finn, who arched an eyebrow at him. Kurt hung up with his Dad and turned to Finn, "Dad says the same thing your Mom did...he thinks we need to just relax tonight, they will call as soon as any updates come up.. he also says there are beers in the fridge and to help ourselves tonight, as long as we don't drive anywhere." Kurt had a confused look on his face, but Finn smiled, he could really use one. "Why would my Dad even suggest I put all those empty calories in my body?" Finn laughed at Kurt's comment.

"Why don't we just hang out tonight, just you and I," Finn suggested. "We can just relax and have some beer and breathe."

"Did my mini-lecture on empty calories just float over your head, Hudson?" Kurt questioned

"One beer isn't going to make your waist explode out of proportion," Finn laughed, seeing Kurt's face. "It won't kill you, and it will be good for you to just relax. It's a perfect way to end our long weekend." Kurt nodded, then groaned remembering they had to go back to school the next day.

"I wonder when our snow-days will begin..." Kurt said randomly, or so Finn thought.

"Dude, you must hate school more than I do," Finn chuckled. "Why are you thinking about snow-days right now?" Kurt gestured outside, and Finn looked to the sliding glass doors that led out to the deck. He saw the tiny white flakes just beginning to fall lightly, it had begun to snow. Finn suddenly felt his stomach drop a little, an uneasy feeling filling him. He had been dreading the snow coming, after his dream, he had not wanted to think winter would actually even come. It had come though, it was beginning outside. After a brief pause, Kurt got up and stretched.

"Well, I'm going to go take a nap," he said, smiling. "Hopefully, some R&R will be just what I need to de-stress." With that, he left the room and Finn listened to him go downstairs to their room. Finn got up and went over to the sliding doors, opening one and heading outside. Standing outside, he put out his palm, watching the snowflakes fall on him, hitting him with a slight intensity, then melting away in his hands. He still felt uneasy, but Finn was in that moment where he had to tell himself that his dream was just that... a dream. Nothing of that magnitude had happened yet, and if he just let things happen naturally, instead of unnaturally trying to avoid the conflict, there was a good chance he could avoid anything happening. Finn vowed that he wouldn't let anything happen to Kurt, he wouldn't be all up in Kurt's face or business, but he wasn't going to go back to old Finn who distanced himself when things got stressful. The new Finn was just always by Kurt's side, ready to catch him if he needed it.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Finn was rifling through some of his mom's things, looking for something to surprise Kurt with. Poor Kurt had too much stress associated with this weekend, and Finn knew what would help, butterflies in his stomach as he continued searching until he found what he was looking for: scented candles. Grabbing quite a few of them, and a auto-lighter, he snuck downstairs, the stairs creaking even as he tip-toed down them, trying not to wake Kurt.

Finn got to the bottom and was making his way to the bathroom he and Kurt shared, when he stopped. Kurt was asleep in his bed, blanket protectively wrapped around him, his hair gently strewn about his face, and that light mouse-on-helium snore escaping him. Finn smiled, he was strangely captivated by this sight, it was kind of cute. Finn seemed to get lost in it, until he clumsily dropped one of the candles which hit his bed-stand, making a thud noise and rolling on the floor. Finn cursed quietly under his breath, picking up the candle and looking back to Kurt, making certain he didn't wake him. Kurt lay in the same spot, serene in his peaceful sleep. Finn tiptoed over to the bathroom, shutting the door partially. Finn clearly did not have an eye for organization or interior design, but he did his best to arrange the candles in a fashion that was at least aesthetically pleasing if nothing else. Finn thought, well, hoped that if he started running the water to fill the tub, that it wouldn't make too much noise and wake Kurt, so he cautiously turned the knob.

He was, of course, wrong. In a quiet house, every noise is a loud noise, the water was no different. Unavoidable noise aside, Finn began to fill the tub after sticking his hand under the water, finding the perfect temperature. From out in the room, he hears Kurt getting up.

"Finn...?" Kurt's tired voice reaches Finn's ears.

"Yeah, I'm in here," Finn called to him, as Kurt showed up in the doorway of the bathroom. "Sorry about the noise, dude. Didn't mean to wake you."

"No problem," Kurt yawned, looking around. "So what's with the candles? Are you trying to do a Martha Stewart in our bathroom?" Finn smiled and stood up.

"Well, I figured...maybe since you've had a lot to deal with this weekend, maybe you'd enjoy a nice bath or something..." Finn jammed his hands in his pockets, looking a little embarrassed.

"Finn," Kurt giggled and smiled. "You didn't have to do this."

"I used to do it all the time for my Mom," Finn said, looking at Kurt. "When she had stressful days at work, I would always do this. I figured maybe it would help you too, and I haven't done it for a while, so a little refresher never hurt anyone." Finn smiled at Kurt. He then took the auto-lighter and went around lighting all the candles.

"Finn," Kurt said, watching Finn go around the bathroom with his lighter. "I've been thinking about it, and if you want to have Puck and Quinn over tonight, it's totally fine," Finn looked at him. "It's just, I don't want you to think that I rule this house. You have moved in, you live here, too, so it's not like my word has to be the final say-" Finn held up a hand and Kurt stopped.

"I think a simple compromise is fine here," Finn said. "Just because I've moved in doesn't mean I have all these privileges that suddenly appeared, we can settle this easily: how about tonight you and I hang out together, but next weekend we do something with Glee Club. Work for you?" Kurt nodded, smiling. Finn nods at Kurt, "Well, I guess I will let you enjoy yourself." Finn smiled and walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Kurt smiled to himself and undressed, slipping slowly into the bath water, which was the perfect temperature, relaxing him almost instantly. It was then that Kurt noticed his arms, the bruises that were previously there from the fight, were virtually gone. Filled with a tingle of joy, Kurt enjoyed himself until there was a knock at the door, causing him to jerk up in the tub.

"Uh, Kurt?" Kurt heard Finn's voice from the other side of the door. "I forgot to put new towels in there..." Kurt laughed.

"Ok, well get the privacy partition and set it up in here," Kurt said. "Then you can replace the towels."

Finn looked around nervously for the partition, which he had taken down a while ago, he and Kurt had no longer needed it. He found it folded on the floor in a corner, grabbing it he unfolded and knocked on the bathroom door again.

"I'm...um...I'm coming in now." He announced awkwardly before heading in. He set up the partition giving Kurt much privacy while he placed towels in their appropriate places. "So...um..how's the bath?"

"Amazing," Kurt sighed. "You have a gift for this." Finn laughed, sitting on the sink counter "Thank you for this too, I really needed it."

"No problem," Finn said, finding it a little awkward to be talking through the privacy partition. There was a moment of brief silence that followed, which Kurt took initiative to break.

"The bruises on my arms are gone," Kurt said, not sure what Finn would say. "It really makes me happy that now the lasting impressions of that fight are gone, I don't have to think about it as much..." Finn chuckled and shook his head.

"I like that about you," Finn said. "You can find joy in the smallest of details, even if it's surrounded by the biggest amount of negative shit...I know care a ton about the mark on your face and how you present yourself, but even though it's still there..." Finn paused, he didn't want to make it seem like it attracted attention to Kurt's face. "...you should be really proud to have it. I mean, it will go away soon and stuff, but I have to say, I really admire the fact that you haven't tried to hide it or cover it up. It's very admirable of you, Kurt..." Finn could tell Kurt was thinking about what he said, there was another silence and once again, Kurt broke it.

"I'm craving pizza," he said, slowly. "I really want pizza now." Finn laughed.

"You want me to order some?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kurt said excited. "There's money on my dresser, use that to pay for it."

"Cool," Finn said, smiling. "I'll open our beers when it gets here." He wouldn't let Kurt forget that he said he would drink a beer with him.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

"I don't care who you are, nobody drinks beer from a straw!" Finn laughed as he took the straw away from Kurt, who pouted and stared at the beer bottle as if he were a toddler and Finn was forcing him to drink out of his 'big boy cup' for the first time. "Cheers!" Finn smiled and raised his bottle before taking a large swig of his beer. Kurt tried to copy Finn, but because he was not a frequent beer drinker, some drizzled down his chin after his swig. Finn was laughing as he handed Kurt a napkin.

"Well," Kurt said, wiping his chin. "Unlike you, I actually pay attention to the drinking laws."

"Yeah right," Finn said chuckling. "Because drinking one beer in the privacy of our own home is going to somehow alert the cops to bust down the door and arrest us...I'm kidding!" Finn caught himself, seeing the expression of horror on Kurt's face. Kurt took another sip of beer, no drizzle this time while Finn began to wolf down his piece of pizza. Kurt stared at him, he hadn't even started and Finn was inhaling this thing. Finn looked back at him.

"What?" he asked, swallowing. "It's just-It's really good pizza!" Both boys started laughing uncontrollably, Finn still inhaled his pizza.

"Finn Hudson, you are-"

"Impossible," Finn nodded. "Yeah, I know." He smiled at Kurt who was smiling back as he took his first bite of the pizza. After the pizza touched his lips, Kurt's eyes went wide...

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

"Woah, dude, slow down!" Finn laughed as Kurt worked on his third slice of pizza.

"Get off my back, Hudson!" Kurt giggled. "It's really good pizza!" Finn smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but Kurt stopped him. "Don't you dare steal my line!" Finn arched an eyebrow at him. "Don't tell me I'm impossible, that lines belongs to me..." Kurt smiled brightly. "Besides, I'm not impossible, I'm just hungry...really _really _hungry."

"Why didn't I think about saying that first?" Finn laughed.

"Because you would have had to think first." Kurt said shortly, smiling and giggling. Finn laughed, but then shut the pizza box as Kurt reached for another slice.

"Oh no, Hummel," Finn said, smiling. "No more for you."

"Aw, why?" Kurt asked, emptying his beer bottle which Finn promptly took from him, despite his protest.

"You've had enough," Finn laughed. "I'm cutting you off."

"But why are you taking the bottles away?" Kurt asked, pouting. "I wanted to blow into them and make the pan-flute noise..." Finn fake-sighed and blew into both bottles quickly, making the noise just briefly for Kurt.

"There," Finn said, faking annoyance. "Pan-flute noise made, crisis averted, gold star for me." Finn smiled and quickly went into the kitchen, placing the box on the counter and rinsing out the empty bottles before placing them on the counter near the sink. A few minutes later, Kurt came in and Finn instantly grabbed the pizza box, but Kurt just shook his head, frowning.

"I definitely ate too fast," Kurt said, clutching his stomach.

"I told you to slow down," Finn said, half-smiling. "Go lie down on the couch, I'll bring you some Ginger Ale in a bit." Kurt nodded and left. Finn sighed and smiled, placing the pizza box on top of the fridge, far away from Kurt's reach. Going over to the cupboard, he got a cup and filled it with Ginger Ale before bringing it out to Kurt who was laying down on the couch, still clutching his stomach.

"Here," Finn said handing him the cup. "Now don't chug this down...take slow, small sips." Kurt obeyed, taking a few sips before setting the cup down on the table.

"I'm impossible, aren't I?" Kurt asked, staring at the cup on the table.

"Yes," Finn said almost instantly, smiling. "It means I'm rubbing off on you."

"Oh God," Kurt said, rolling over. "All I need to do now is grow a few feet and have a closet full of flannel and I _am _you." Finn laughed and ruffled Kurt's hair. Kurt turned, looked up at Finn, and opened his mouth to say something.

An enormous roar of a sound escaped Kurt as he burped, long and loud, his face shocked afterwards. Finn just fell into the chair laughing.

"Dude!" Finn laughed, clutching his stomach. "You are so turning into me!"

"No I'm not!" Kurt let out another burp, then another, and another, as if he couldn't control it. "Oh God, it doesn't stop!"

Finn laughed the hardest he had ever laughed.

**A/N:** So, what did you guys think? Not bad for jotting down some short hand ideas in a notebook during an 8 hour midnight shift at work huh? The tricky part was reading my chicken-scratch writing and forming it into complete ideas...but I gotta say, I love this chapter! and I hope you guys did too! SUBMIT A REVIEW! Chapter 6 coming soon!

Until next time!

~BlueRain26


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Like I could afford to own this stuff...**

**A/N:** Hello again my amazing readers! Glad you liked chapter 5! It was fun to write, but this chapter has some fun moments in it too-another pleasure to write! I will address one thing, my grammar and spelling skills, since someone mentioned them a review (Thank you!): My spelling and grammar skills are normally pretty good, I don't want to toot my own horn, but I pride myself on it sometimes...However, when I put the finishing touches on my chapters, it is usually very late at night, and I am exhausted... things slip by me, I am contemplating getting a beta reader, or to just get the chapters done earlier haha. Enjoy chapter 6, REVIEWS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED! :) Also, this is the only chapter where I will jump ahead a bit in the timeline... I know this is going to sound weird, but bare with me!-I'm skipping this week in school, I tried out a few ideas, and none of them really struck a good chord with me... so I'm saving them for a rainy day. I will jumping to the following weekend, when Finn and Kurt are going to be doing things with their fellow Glee Club members... it just gives me a chance to feel out the other characters since I plan on using them throughout this story...so sorry for the jump in time... I normally don't do it...but I must for now. Enjoy!

**Chapter Six**

**(Friday of the following week)**

Finn raced down the hallway towards the front of the school. School was out for the weekend, finally, and he had been very good at reminding Kurt of his promise to hang out with him and the other Glee Club members today. They had all decided to go to barn behind Kurt's house, and just have fun. Finn was almost peeing himself with excitement, finally there was a day where he could hang out with all his friends, and there wasn't any awkwardness, no one was stressed out, and he could finally unwind.

Kurt heard Finn's familiar, yet loud, thumping footsteps from yards away. _Oh God, _Kurt thought. _He's running, why is he running-_but Kurt couldn't even finish his own thought before Finn ran past him, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him outside. Kurt could barely keep up Finn's pace, not to mention it had been snowing all week, so the ground was icy.

"Jeez, Finn!" Kurt yelled as Finn continued to yank him towards his truck. "Slow down-" Kurt lost his balance, slipping. He suddenly felt Finn twist, jerking him upwards, and if not for the ice and gravity, would have been back on his feet. However, because of the ice and that damn gravity, Kurt fell again, and landed on Finn's chest, who had fallen when he had tried to stop Kurt from falling the first time. "Ow," Kurt said. "Your body hurts me, Hudson...but thanks for breaking my fall." Kurt got up, smiling down at Finn who was struggling to get up, slipping on the ice almost every time he tried. Kurt giggled and and helped Finn up, or at least trying even though he could barely support Finn's weight. The two then walked semi-fast to Finn's truck, getting in, Finn staring at Kurt until he put his seatbelt on. Finn started the car, cranking the heat, reaching over Kurt and turning the vents so that they were open, grabbing Kurt's hands and putting them close to the vents, the warm air returning the feeling to Kurt's feelings. Finn drove out of the parking lot, and turned to head back to their house.

"Do you think we need to set up anything?" Kurt asked, rubbing his hands together, looking over at Finn.

"We could just put some snacks out, make sure everything is set for dinner..." Finn suggested, his eyes on the road.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into making grilled cheese and tomato soup," Kurt giggled. Finn smiled and laughed.

"It's a classic thing to make when the winter months are upon us!" he said, very Shakespearian-like. "Plus, I bought a huge thing of tomato soup the other day at the store, it's begging to be used!" Kurt giggled and nodded.

"Fine," Kurt said, smiling. "But you make the soup, I don't trust you to be able to handle such a delicate and important task as grilled cheese sandwiches!"

Pulling to a stoplight, Finn looked over at Kurt's hands, small and red from the cold. Taking off his gloves, Finn handed them to Kurt, who politely shook his head and brushed them away, but Finn kept his gloves there.

"Take the gloves," he said, somewhat firmly. "My hands will be fine, don't worry about it." Kurt took the gloves just as the light turned green and Finn kept driving. Finn's gloves were huge on Kurt, but the insides were very warm from being on Finn's hands, and Kurt couldn't help but smile at the thought. "Better?" Finn asked, Kurt nodded

"Much better," he said. "You have huge hands, though," Kurt examined the gigantic gloves.

"Nah," Finn chuckled. "Your hands are just puny."

"Excuse me, Finn Hudson," Kurt gave a diva tone to his voice. "My hands are just right, you are freakishly tall, I deem it so."

"Fine, fine," Finn said, laughing. "No need to get your royal pants in a twist your highness." Kurt gave a fake scoff at Finn's remark, just as fish-tailed into his driveway, causing Kurt to be jerk quickly, Finn laughing as he parked the truck and removed his keys from the ignition. "You ok, dude?" Finn smiled at Kurt as he got out of the car, heading over to the passenger's side and opening the door for Kurt, who arched an eyebrow.

"Are you going to unbuckle me too, Finn?" He smirked. "Oh don't-" Finn had smiled and reached over, teasing Kurt and trying to unbuckle him. "I've got it fine!" Kurt growled, trying to hide his smile. He unbuckled and stepped out, shutting the door and instantly slipping on some ice, falling forward and into Finn's chest again. Kurt could feel and hear Finn's laugh rumble from his chest, as Finn grabbed Kurt's shoulders and helped stabilize him.

"You ok?" Finn smiled, holding on to Kurt's shoulders. "We don't want to get more bruises on you just as the old ones are going away." Finn stopped after hearing what he said, he hoped his comment hadn't been misconstrued as insensitive. Kurt's bruises were virtually all gone, the one on his face was still just barely visible, but Finn didn't want Kurt to think he paid attention to things like that. To his joy, Kurt actually laughed, and it was a real, Kurt laugh that made Finn smile.

"Yeah," Kurt said, looking around. "I don't think I could handle another mark of imperfection on this face." Finn smiled and ruffled Kurt's hair, an action Kurt had gotten used to by now, even though it did mess up his hair.

The two headed into the house, Finn taking off his jacket, then reaching over and helping Kurt take his off, hanging it next to his own jacket. Heading downstairs, the two boys began to look for appropriate clothing for hanging out at the barn. "No snowball fights," Kurt said, setting out some clothes in a line on his bed, as if he had to be fashionable to just hang out with friends.

"Oh come on dude," Finn protested, smiling. "What else are we supposed to do? Brush each others' hair?" Kurt gave Finn a look, like he was starting to tread a dangerous line. Finn threw up his arms, somewhat apologetically, it was good enough for Kurt.

"Fine," Kurt conceded. "But no chucking the snowballs like they're footballs, like you said, no more bruises for me." Finn smiled and put an arm around Kurt, squeezing him tight.

"No," Finn said. "No more bruises for our little Princess." Finn laugh and Kurt lightly punched Finn's abs, causing him to recoil, he hadn't forgotten how powerful a punch Kurt was packing. He laughed it off as Kurt smiled, realizing exactly what Finn was thinking.

The doorbell rang, and both boys rushed upstairs to see who it was; very appropriately, it was Puck and Quinn.

"See Noah? I told you I could still drive and get us here safely." Quinn's eyes sparkled as she stepped through the door, followed by Puck stepping in, his hands shoved in his pockets.

"You were doing 60 in a 40," Puck said, trying to sound concerned, but smiling underneath. "It was pretty badass though..." Quinn smiled and walked over to Kurt, linking arms with him.

"So boys," Quinn smiled. "What are the glorious plans we are going to watch unfurl?"

"We should have a snow-angel competition," Kurt said suddenly, everyone giving him a funny look. "Yeah, have one between Rachel, Santana and Brittany... I just want to see who is better at a simple task...Berry who has to over-think everything and make it perfect or Brit who may not know what a snow-angel is." The other three laughed, Kurt smiling at his brilliant idea.

"What would the winner get?" Puck asked, ever the competitor. "And why can't we can't we do something manly?"

"We are having a snowball fight," Finn explained, making Puck smile. "Don't look so smug dude, I'm going to crush you."

"Oh, you think so?"

"Children," Quinn interjected, smiling. "Let's save this display of manhood for later, shall we?"

"Babe, don't be so down," Puck said, rubbing Quinn's shoulder, kissing her on the forehead. "You'll have fun, but from the sidelines, I'm putting my foot down on the snowball fight... I don't want you to do it."

"Oh, I wasn't planning to," Quinn blinked. "Like hell I'm going to let myself near anything that I can throw at someone... I would totally take you out, Noah." Kurt giggled, but saw Puck glare at him and stopped. Turns out, Puck was only joking and smiled, chuckling and playfully punching Kurt's arm.

"Keep Quinn company on the side lines, Hummel?" Puck asked, Kurt nodded. "I mean, feel free to join in the massacre...if you dare!"

"I will try my best to stay out of it, no promises though," Kurt smiled. "Sometimes I just get those manly urges where I have to throw a snowball at something and hope it hits it in its face." Finn laughed at Kurt, the thought of macho Kurt was just too funny, Kurt would always be the boy who put up the strong front, but was really a big softy on the inside... kind of like a pineapple, thought Finn. The thought made Finn smile, and get a sudden craving for pineapple.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

The old red barn against the view from up the hill from Kurt's house always gave him a warm feeling, even though he was quite cold. Kurt had been named the judge of the snow-angel contest, he didn't watch the girls make their snow-angels, that way he figured he couldn't be biased. The girls came and got him when they were ready, each hanging back as he looked over them, trying to figure out who would win. Finn and Puck were just standing there, shoulders tense, hands shoved in their coat pockets, their typical "tough guy" attitude being shown off.

"Well," Kurt finally said, turning to the three contestants. "It was a hard decision, but I have to go with the one on the end. The body and wings were perfect, but what won me over was the detail to the face. There were almost perfect imprints of the eyes and nose and mouth...truly a testament to the artist's dedication."

Brittany clapped her hands together, happily, jumping up and down. Kurt, mouth agape, thought he chose Rachel's, what with the somewhat anal retentiveness.

"I really worked hard on the face," Brittany said in front of the group, as if she were giving an acceptance speech, but with her typical eyes glazed over look. "It's because I made my snow-angel on my stomach, and put my face in the snow." Kurt chuckled, Brittany had laid on her stomach and put her face in the freezing snow just to win a snow-angel competition?-and no less, a competition that didn't really have a prize except bragging rights. Santana seemed to be supporting her friend, smiling and listening to Brittany jabber on about how she made her wings so amazingly, and other stuff of that nature. Rachel, however, looked a little upset, and Kurt wasn't surprised.

"It's not that yours wasn't good," he said, standing next to her. "Why you didn't win, I mean. Yours was a close second." "I'm not upset about not winning," Rachel said, sidling up closer to Kurt. "I mean, winning isn't everything..."

"Who are you and what have you done with Rachel Berry?" Kurt said, eyes widening. Rachel only giggled.

"A new me...or at least, I'm trying out a new me," Rachel said, looking straight ahead, where Finn and Puck had already begun to throw small snowballs at each other. "I think I need a change in my life. I don't know what it is yet, but the old Rachel would go searching for it. The new Rachel wants it to happen naturally, like child birth."

"Believe me," Kurt said, looking down at her. "You say that now, but when you are giving birth to a child, you will not want a natural birth. Your concept is quite admirable though, you know you can always come talk to me about anything. I know what it's like to have to let a part of you go." Rachel followed Kurt's gaze to Finn, who had ducked to avoid Puck's incoming snowball, catching Kurt's gaze and smiling.

"I would stay a safe distance away from Finn," Rachel said, hesitantly. "I don't mean remove yourself from his life entirely...he has a heart the size of two of him standing on each other's shoulders, but he can unintentionally play with someone's emotions and it won't work out well in the end."

"I appreciate your concern," Kurt said, looking at Rachel. "But like you, I am trying to find a new me. One that isn't so hopelessly devoted to Finn."

"Well, isn't that what he likes about you?" Rachel asked, meeting Kurt's eyes. "I mean, I'm not expert on what your personal relationship with him is...but my two dad's started as really good friends. Do you ever think he might like you back?"

"Not a chance," Kurt said, fake smiling. "The more I think about it, I'm like the baby he wanted to have with Quinn. After a while, he couldn't deal with the loss so he turned his attention to me, because our parents are dating, so he thinks he has to protect me."

"That's cute," Rachel offered, trying in any way to open Kurt's eyes to what she thought was obvious, or at the very least feasible.

"It's like I'm the ugly duckling he would bring home to his mother when he was five asking, 'can I keep him?' ...Of course it's cute, it's adorable, and just getting to be able to live with Finn is something I never thought would happen. We have been getting closer lately," Kurt pondered the situation, but shook his head. "If it's going to happen, it will happen on it's own. I'm not going to try and speed or delay its arrival."

"I think we both take things too seriously," Rachel took Kurt's hand in hers, giving it a tight squeeze. "Let's make a promise, we will let's things take their own course. We will try our best to not revert to our old selves, and we will be there for each other to help." Rachel held out her pinky, hoping Kurt would take it.

"Deal," Kurt took his pinky in hers and made a promise, and he didn't go back on a pinky swears, it was a little childish, but he hadn't gone back on one as a child, why start now. "Oh and Rachel, this conversation never happened. No one is to hear about this, and I mean it."

"Deal," Rachel smiled. "You're an amazing person, Kurt, I'm glad you and I are working on these things together. The idea of tackling a challenge myself, while normally exciting to me, can be very frightening and overwhelming...so thank you for sharing this with me."

"We both have had our hearts...unintentionally broken," Kurt nodded towards Finn, who was chucking a snowball at Puck's face. "I'm sure we'll recover." he walked away from Rachel's side, it was nice to get out some stress with her, at least she listened and gave the upmost honest opinion, it's what Kurt admired about her, even if they had their little Glee Club rivalry.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Kurt couldn't stay away from the snowball fight, much as he tried. Santana and Brittany had left the party after a while, they had a date to go on with some random guy from school, they had to get ready to break his heart, or at least that's what Kurt figured. Rachel and Quinn seemed deep in conversation, and although Kurt couldn't hear them from the battlefield, he could guess what they were talking about. He saw their lips form the word, "Finn", and his heart skipped a beat, before almost exploding out of his chest when a snowball exploded near his head. The boys had all hidden behind small mountains of snow, using them and shields and then launching their attacks at the appropriate times. Kurt looked up to see Puck smiling and laughing at him from behind his mountain, "Next one won't miss, Hummel!" He laughed, before a snowball hit him in the face. Finn let out a victory whoop as Puck brushed the snow off his face and walked off towards the porch where the girls were sitting and chatting, conceding to his loss, no matter how badly his pride hurt.

Kurt was taking advantage of Finn's victory dance moment to run from his snow pile all the way to Puck's, taking up a snowball and throwing it blindly at Finn, missing him by a pretty large distance, but causing Finn to snap back to attention and start his own assault on Kurt's new hiding place. Kurt ducked under the mountain of snow, trying to figure out what to do next. Taking off his had, he put his hand up inside it and slowly raised it just above the mountain of snow, hoping Finn would fall for the oldest trick in the book...he did.

Kurt felt the snowball his his hat and gave a slight yelp as it hit his hand as well. Finn, hearing Kurt yelp and seeing his hat suddenly fall to the ground, feared the worst and began to run towards Kurt's new snow pile.

"Kurt?" Finn called softly, but still loud enough to let Kurt know he was worried he had hit him too hard. Kurt's hand closed on a snowball, he knew he had to be quick to pull this off...he immediately jumped up and threw the snowball, which hit Finn square in the chest. Finn stood there, his mouth hung open in defeat as Kurt slid down his snow pile and walking up to Finn.

"Don't look so surprised, Hudson," He said smiling. "Know thy enemy." Kurt grinned as Finn shut his mouth, still in shock, snow falling off his jacket where the snowball had hit him.

"I thought I really hit you," Finn said, shaking his head. "I can't believe I just fell for the oldest trick in the book." Kurt laughed

"Well you hit my hand pretty good, don't worry it was only a sting," Kurt said, he knew Finn would suddenly want to go in and nurse him back to health if anything had really hurt him, so he set his thoughts at rest. "So... I guess I won? Makes me kind of wish I had thought of a prize to give the winner." Finn laughed.

"I'll think of something for you," Finn said, ruffling Kurt's hair, his favorite thing to do.

"Don't go out of your way, no seriously," Kurt said when Finn rolled his eyes. "I'm not taking home a Gold in the Olympics here, Finn...it was just a snowball fight. Please don't make it a huge deal, I would never get over it." Kurt laughed, putting his hand on Finn's muscular arm briefly.

Finn nodded, he had been trying hard to tone down the overbearing things he had been doing to Kurt, trying to give him breathing space to live and make his own mistakes and make his own decisions...but it was harder for him not to want to please Kurt, he just loved to see him smile.

"Dinner?" Finn asked, looking down at his boots, moving the snow around slowly. "Or is that too much?"

"Why don't you make me your favorite dishes tomorrow," Kurt suggested. "You are in charge of feeding me... just nothing with portions that weigh the same as me... I've seen you eat, Finn, it' s almost like you eat two small children for breakfast lunch and dinner sometimes." Finn laugh and looked around.

"Deal." Finn held out his hand, as if he wanted Kurt to shake it. Kurt didn't really do the manly handshake, but he held out his hand, and Finn took it, bringing him in for a hug.

"Good game," Finn said into Kurt's hair. "You kicked my ass...bad."

"Well you fought bravely," Kurt replied, pulling away from the hug and brushing the rest of the snow off of Finn's chest. "But ultimately...just not good enough." Kurt smiled and Finn gave Kurt one of his heartthrob smiles, and Kurt thought he was so warm on the inside that he was worried Finn would notice if the snow around them started melting.

"I'm cold, and hungry," Finn said, breaking the brief silence. "What do you say to going inside now?"

"Yes," Kurt laughed, smiling. "I think that's a great idea. The best you've had all day, better than running towards my snow fort when I was armed." The two shared a laugh as they walked back to Kurt's house with their friends.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

After everyone had left, Finn was stretched out on the couch in the living room, TV on, no news or updates on their parents situation in terms of the weather, but then again, he had the volume on low while Kurt was washing dishes in the kitchen, Finn didn't want Kurt to start worrying again. He changed the channel to the sports channel when Kurt finished the dishes and walked into the room, seeing the TV and tilting his head curiously, almost pretending to be interested in the game that was going on.

Finn got up, and went over to the fireplace where wood had been stacked meticulously, another thing Kurt was anal about. Finn opened the fireplace and put a few logs in, followed by taking some paper and throwing it in there. Before long, Finn had a good fire going. Kurt had opted to go get his pajamas on, since Finn was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Kurt came up in sweatpants and long-sleeved shirt, he was still a bit cold, even with the fire going.

"Are you still cold?" Apparently Finn had noticed since the question came rather quickly.

"A bit, yes," Kurt said. "I'm just a cold magnet, I suppose."

Finn had wrapped a blanket around him, he opened it and gestured for Kurt to come sit with him. Kurt made his way over, and sat down next to Finn who was still laying down.

"Down in front." Finn said. "I can't see the game." Without warning, he snaked an arm around Kurt's waist and pulled him down so that he was laying down his back resting on Finn's chest, Finn's head resting on his shoulder.

"Finn," Kurt said suddenly but gently. "Brothers don't spoon each other."

"We're not spooning," Finn said, he knew Kurt a bit nervous about physical contact, especially coming from him. "We're laying down and I'm huge so I take up most of the couch. Do you want me to move?"

"No," Kurt said instantly. "I just don't want to get the wrong idea here... I can't just sit here and go on a roller-coaster ride with you if I'm expected to jump off in the middle of the road."

"I'm not asking you to," Finn said gently. "I'm not trying to do anything to make you think that I'm messing with you. I don't know how to explain it, but I just feel comfortable around you. We can lay down on the couch together, hold hands, hug, and it's not like we are making out or anything."

"We do touch an awful lot," Kurt said, Finn's arm unmoving from around his waist. "We do a lot of things we won't be able to do if our parents get married."

"You're too hung up on defining love," Finn said, smartly. "You think that you can break it off into all these different subcategories...why can't I just enjoy my time with you even if we are under the same blanket lying on the same couch together?"

Kurt thought about it. It wasn't like Finn was naked, drunk, suddenly coming out to him, or any combination of the three. He just wanted to lie down, and he invited Kurt to join him. Not necessarily as a brother, or a friend, but as Kurt. Kurt allowed himself to relax, and he felt Finn's arm loosen around his waist, just resting there now.

"Do you think people notice how close we are?" Kurt asked, hesitantly.

"Who cares?" Finn answered.

"...I do..." Kurt almost whispered.

"Well that's weird," Finn said, resting his head again on Kurt's shoulder. "You always struck me as the person who knew they didn't owe anyone an explanation. Who cares what other people think? I mean, I think our friends would tell us if they thought something was weird," Kurt decided after Finn said that he wouldn't tell him about his conversation with Rachel earlier. "I think you just don't want people to think we're brothers and boyfriends or something..."

"I don't think we're boyfriends," Kurt said. "You know that. Don't bring that up now, I can leave you here and go some other place in the house, I-" But even as Kurt tried to get up, Finn's arm wouldn't let him move.

"I'm not letting you get up and walk away from a harmless conversation because you're starting to get pissy." Finn said. "I know that sometimes, it may seem like I'm toying with you. I'm not, Kurt, I would never do that. I want you to know that, because otherwise, you'll always walk out on me when we are trying to have a conversation and I won't deal with that. I apologize for the fact that I'm making you uncomfortable...but you know that's not my reason for doing what I do. Now lay back down or I will find a blunt object to se-sed-what was that word you used last weekend?"

" 'Sedate'?"

"Yeah that one!" Finn smiled, and Kurt couldn't help it, he smiled back. "I will have to sedate you with a blu-blun-"

" ;Blunt'," Kurt said, laughing to himself. "You will have to sedate me with a blunt object." Finn squeezed Kurt tight.

"This is why I keep you around," he said. "I wish you were in my english class, I would ace the vocabulary quizzes if you were." Kurt laughed and returned to laying down with Finn, watching the game.

About 15 minutes later, Finn was snoring in Kurt's ear. It wasn't that late, but they had a long day, so Kurt turned as gently as he could to face Finn. Brushing some the hair of of Finn's face, Kurt looked that boy sleeping next to him, his arm still loosely wrapped around his waist, his eyes closed, his mouth partly open and he breathed, his chest moving up and down. Kurt of course noticed this meant that Finn took shallow breaths, which was bad for singing...he would have to teach him about breathing from the diaphragm but that could wait until another day.

Kurt gently put his hand in Finn's hair, tracing it's way down and lightly caressing his ear, the shape of his face, and then Kurt stroked Finn's face with the backside of his hand, Finn's soft skin brushing up against his. He withdrew his hand, quickly.

_What are you doing? _Kurt though to himself. _We went over this! He is your friend, this is supposed to be the new you! Letting things happen naturally. Stop being crazy!_

Finn's hand reached up suddenly and grabbed Kurt's, Finn was still asleep, but a smile covered his face when his hand met Kurt's and their fingers laced together, Kurt turning bright red. What should he do now? If he withdrew his hand, he might wake Finn, and then if Finn thought he was being too sensitive about the subject... _No, Stop, _Kurt though to himself again. _Stop being crazy, you are not doing anything wrong, just relax, go to sleep, he'll probably get up in the middle of the night to go back to his bed anyway._ Kurt relaxed, letting his fingers be laced with Finn's, letting Finn's gently breath keep the pulse on his forehead while he put his head near Finn's chest, resting his head on Finn's other arm.

Within minutes, Kurt was asleep in the arms of the boy of his dreams, and it felt well, perfect.

**A/N:** awww yay! cute ending, yes? I hope you enjoyed chapter 6! they are starting to get closer and closer! I'm still trying to keep it classy, not like be the typical Finn/Kurt story. Anyways, I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can, please submit a REVIEW :) :) :) :) I really hope you guys liked this chapter! :)

~BlueRain26


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but Finn's pineapple thoughts

**A/N: **Hello all! thank you for journeying to chapter 7 with me! As usual, the reviews for chapter 6 were greatly appreciated, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it and thought the end was cute (I did too!) There is one thing I would like to try to address...although it will be hard to explain, but I shall try!

Finn is not intentionally playing with Kurt's emotions... I know he says he notices how physical contact from him makes Kurt uncomfortable and he continues to do it because his intentions are good... and it kind of seems like he is putting his feelings above Kurt's... and he is... but it's not that he wants to be mean or nasty to Kurt and to hurt him. He really is trying to do everything he can to be a better person... it will all become clearer and be resolved when Finn comes to terms with everything. I hope that sets some nerves at rest haha. In other news, I finally took y'all's hint and got a beta reader! Much thanks to JessTheGeek for putting up with the horrible mistakes contained in this story before I post it for all you guys to see!

Well, enjoy Chapter 7, reviews are awesome! So DO IT! :)

**Chapter Seven**

~~~~++++_ Finn rushed into the river, screaming Kurt's name, and holding tightly to the scarf that had come off in his hands. He searched frantically for the small figure, but the river was even beginning to tug at Finn's strong stance in the shallows. Finn screamed for Kurt, feeling pathetic as if that was the only thing he could do while Kurt was hurting or possibly dead. Finn screamed Kurt's name one last time louder than ever, before a feeling of icy cold enveloped his entire body... ++++~~~~_

Finn's eyes shot open, his breath getting caught in a short gasp as his body met resistance from another body, he couldn't see very well in the dark. Breathing heavily now, he looked around, he was still on the couch, he was sweating and struggling to catch his breath, but he was still there. He felt a cold sensation on his chest, and he was able to regain enough focus to see the source of it. Kurt lay asleep next to him, breathing soundly with his soft snore, his head resting on his arms. Kurt's legs were tangled in the blanket that ran over both his and Finn's body, his feet sticking out at the end.

Finn sighed, why wasn't this dream going away? Finn tried to find a comfortable spot, but nothing would be comfortable now he was awake. Finn sighed again, and looked up at the ceiling, before grabbing his cell phone from the table, he had to reach over Kurt slowly to reach it. The clock read 5:15 a.m., the room was dark with all of the curtains and drapes shut but Finn knew outside the sun was coming up. Then he remembered it was snowing, so seeing the sun would be a pretty rare occasion.

Suddenly, Finn felt a cold hand against his chest. Drawing a sharp breath, he looked down to see Kurt, with eyes half-open, looking up at him.

"Finn?" Kurt yawned. "What are you doing up right now?"

"I... just woke up...bad dream," Finn replied slowly, watching Kurt shift his weight, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry to wake you, I think I'm going to go downstairs for a bit."

"Hold on," Kurt said, stretching. "What time is it?"

"5:15," Finn replied. "Go back to sleep Kurt." Finn proceeded to get up, being very gentle not to move Kurt too much from his position, eventually getting up to his feet, towering over the tiny boy who shifted on the couch to face him.

"Think you'll be able to sleep downstairs better?" Kurt asked softly.

"I doubt it," Finn said. "Don't worry about me, Kurt, I'll be fine. I just need to be alone for a second."

"Was your dream that bad?" Kurt looked up at him, his eyes as wide as he could get them in his semi-conscious state.

"Yeah," Finn replied. "Yeah, it was. Someone really close to me...something bad happened to them. I don't really want to talk about it right now." Kurt nodded and waved his hand at Finn. "I totally understand Finn," Kurt said sleepily. Finn nodded and watched as Kurt turned back over and fell back asleep, his gentle snore like music to Finn's ears.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Downstairs wasn't any better for Finn, all he did was pace around his and Kurt's room, his thoughts racing. He sat on his bed, putting on a light long sleeved shirt with a hoodie over that, only wearing sweatpants and socks before slipping into his snow boots, jacket, beanie and gloves. He had to take a walk and just get far away from the house for a while. The feelings associated with the dream would be looming over him for a while, and Finn wasn't going to let them stay in Kurt's house, he had to take them outside and allow them to pass in the open air. Taking a deep breath, he crept up the stairs and went into the living room, just to make sure Kurt was still asleep. Kurt was still on the couch, hair in his face, asleep like a baby. Finn made to brush the hair out of Kurt's face, but stopped. He just had to leave, he couldn't get hung up here. Turning, he made his way out of the house and into the open air.

Snow was falling down lightly, a light breeze blew past Finn, it was still cold despite the lack of wind and snowfall. _It all begins with the first step,_ Finn thought to himself. In order to get all of this crap out in the open, he had to take the first step. As he stepped out into the snowy driveway, he shoved his gloved hands into his pockets, they always started there then made their way calmly back to his side as his feelings became calmer. Finn knew he had to start at the dream, even though just to think about it caused him to feel sick to his stomach. Finn knew he and Kurt had become close, well really close ever since their parents started dating. It took a while to set in, but Finn knew he owed Kurt for the years of watching him get thrown in the dumpster, and for getting upset and blowing up at him when he tried to decorate their room. Finn had trouble even explaining to himself, he just felt a need to be around Kurt, a feeling that there really wasn't anything else he wanted so bad than to be with Kurt. Finn stopped dead in his tracks on the shovelled sidewalk.

_Be "with" Kurt?_ Finn almost had trouble swallowing the phrase. _I'm not his boyfriend...but I'm not his friend, I mean, we just cuddled all night together..._ Finn shook his head and kept walking. He couldn't, or didn't want to label his feelings as something they weren't... he just cared for Kurt. Finn believed if he jammed that thought into his head long enough, it would eliminate having to examine what his feelings meant, he wasn't gay. He was the quarterback who dated the cheerleader, after all.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

The door leading downstairs to their room was closed and Kurt had tried really hard not to pry, but Finn had been down there for a while. Kurt had tried to go back to sleep, but woke up at 6:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. He paced around the kitchen, making coffee, even yelling down to Finn through the closed door that some coffee might help cheer him a bit. There was no answer, so Kurt figured Finn was maybe in the shower, or just thinking things over...whatever he had to think over since he hadn't really mentioned any specifics to Kurt before disappearing.

Kurt decided it wasn't that bad to just go and check on Finn, just to make sure if he needed an ear to listen, he could let it all out. Knocking on the door, Kurt opened it and headed downstairs to find it completely empty. He called Finn's name twice before checking the bathroom...nothing. Kurt ran upstairs, calling Finn's name twice more, checking every room, hoping to find him. Puzzled, and a bit worried, Kurt took out his phone and dialled Finn's number. It rang for what seemed like forever before Finn's voice mail finally picked up.

**"You've reached Finn," **Finn's voice came from the other end and Kurt almost started talking to it, forgetting it was a voice mail. **"Leave a message, and I'll get back to you soon."** There was a beep and a silence, snapping Kurt back to attention.

"Finn," Kurt said into the phone, half expecting an answer. "Finn, where are you? Not that you can't go anywhere if you wanted to, but there was no note or anything, not that I need it-" Kurt already hated this voice mail. He took a deep breath before continuing, "Look, just let me know where you are, ok? That's it, I guess...bye." Kurt hung up and frowned, he had never left such an awkward voice mail before. He figured that Finn would text him back within the next 10 minutes; he had an uncanny ability of doing that.

When an hour passed, Kurt started to get more worried. He didn't want to smother Finn, but after all, Finn had always wanted to know where he was going if he was upset. _Relax, _Kurt took another deep breath. _He's having some kind of issues he needs to sort out for himself. He will come walking through that door before you know it, and you will have gotten all worried for nothing. _Kurt surrounded his entire mind with the thought of Finn walking through the front door, taking off his boots and jacket and coming in to greet Kurt with his amazing smile. Kurt would ask him where he was, and he would say he went to take a walk to clear his mind. Kurt would remind him that if he needed to talk to someone, that he was always there. Finn would then tell him it was nothing to get worried about, ruffle his hair, and go sit down in the living room, beckoning Kurt to join him. Kurt smiled and held on tight to that image. He would go and join Finn on the couch, resting his head on Finn's shoulder. Then, Finn would gently take his chin, leaning it up to his and...Kurt stopped there. _No, _he thought. _No kiss...not one. I refuse to be back at square one with all this. Finn is straight, he would never kiss me, he likes girls and I'm a boy...get out of my head, unwanted thought!_ Kurt's image of happiness was slowly becoming less attractive, not because he didn't want to kiss Finn, but he wasn't ready to dive in when Finn was content with watching from the sidelines. Kurt decided to give Finn until 9 o'clock to call him back before he gave himself full permission to pry all he wanted. Looking outside, Kurt frowned at the snow falling a bit harder than it had been before. Of all days to go outside, Finn had to choose today.

Kurt's phone went off, and he instantly answered it, hoping it would be Finn.

"Finn?" Kurt asked, his voice holding a slight edge to it.

"No, dude, it's me," Puck's voice sounded from the other line. "Don't you check your caller ID?"

"No, I just...I thought you were Finn," Kurt sighed. "He's supposed to be calling me back, he's not with you is he?-wait, why are you even calling me?"

"I left something at your place the other day," Puck explained. "I'm on my way, but I figured I'd call first and make sure it was ok before I opened your door and came right in."

"Great, I guess," Kurt said, rolling his eyes and shrugging.

"If you and Finn are having another stupid fight, Hummel-"

"No," Kurt stopped Puck before this got out of hand. "I mean, yes it's fine if you come over...but Finn and I aren't fighting. He just woke up really early and shut himself downstairs and then left without saying anything or even leaving a note. I tried calling him and he didn't pick up...I don't want to be overbearing or prying into something that isn't my business, but I'm worried about him! He just up and left and-"

"Hummel," Puck cut him off. "We'll talk about this when I get there, the roads are pretty crappy right now..." Puck could tell from the silence that what he said about the roads probably made Kurt worry more about Finn. "I'm sure he's fine," he tried to make the situation better. "Be over in a few." Kurt hung up the phone with Puck and continued his pacing, every once in a while taking a large sip of his coffee.

"This better be worth it, Finn." Kurt said out loud, he didn't care that no one was there to hear him.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Finn felt bad for ignoring Kurt's call but he couldn't talk to him right now, too many things were running through his head. He decided to make his own phone call, maybe Rachel would know what to say.

"Hello, Finn," Rachel's bright and cheery voice reached Finn's ears over the phone. "How are you?"

"Confused," Finn stated honestly.

"...Did you know you called me?" Rachel asked, wondering if Finn had maybe meant to call someone else.

"Yeah, I know what I'm doing...well sort of," Finn stumbled over his words.

"Well, start at the beginning," Rachel said gently. "Tell me what's going through your mind."

Finn proceeded to tell her everything, everything about him and Kurt and their unconventional brotherly relationship. About his dream, well he told her the basics about his dream, he couldn't bare to go into all the details. He told her about how he had left Kurt's house and...

"Wait, you're outside in this weather?" Rachel cut Finn off. "Are you just always this oblivious, Finn?"

"I don't know what you mean," Finn said sheepishly.

"I mean you are being dumb," Rachel sighed. "You are taking yourself away from the situation with Kurt because you think that your dream will affect you so much that it will affect Kurt too. At least, you want to believe that so you don't have to deal with your real feelings."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked, frustrated slightly because he had accused Kurt of doing the same thing a while back.

"It means you are reading too much into everything," Rachel stated bluntly. "It means that instead of being honest with yourself you lie to yourself and you toy around with Kurt's emotions because you think that just because your intentions are good, that everything is fine." Rachel paused, giving Finn a chance to answer, which he didn't take, because he had nothing to say.

"You think I want to be this way?" Finn asked eventually. "You think I want to care this much and not know what it means? I wish I could just call it something, but it's not what everyone thinks it is."

"No one thinks it's anything," Rachel stated. "You have barely been this way around anyone else, and no one is judging you yet. You are bringing everyone else into this because you don't want to be at this alone."

"I'm not alone," Finn said. "I have Kurt."

"Don't you dare drag him down with you," Rachel demanded. "I will not see him go through the same things you put me through. You have to be honest with yourself and with him, and stop thinking that sleeping on the same couch under the same blanket is just two young men showing brotherly affection for each other. You and I both know that brothers don't do that and since you two are technically not brothers, you think it's ok to do it. It's not ok Finn, you are leading Kurt on and putting him in a situation he has been trying to avoid."

"Why would he be trying to avoid me?"

"Are you that dense?" Rachel almost spat out the word. "You know he liked...well, likes you still. You may have talked to him about it, but it doesn't mean the feelings aren't still there. Do you know how hard it is to get over dumping someone? Now imagine dumping someone who you could never have. Imagine having to completely let go of a part of yourself without question, just to live the closest thing to a normal life with the person who may become related to you. You think this is easy for Kurt? And now, you have begun to distance yourself from him, your intentions may be good, but what do you think Kurt is doing right now?" Finn had the image of Kurt pacing around the house, looking for him.

"He just shouldn't have to deal with any more problems," Finn said softly. "He has enough trouble shouldering his own stuff, I want to give him more credit... I just don't want to see him hurt is all. I figured that if I was always there for him, always there to catch him at the end of the day, that he would open up and we could just be cool with each other."

"How can you be there for him if you're always leaving when it gets stressful for you? I know your intentions are good," Rachel knew what Finn was going to say. "But it doesn't matter if your intentions are good, actions speak louder than anything else. Your action is to walk out and leave Kurt alone to worry until you walk in the door. You probably won't want to talk about it with him, then he will become distant because he doesn't want to put himself in a position where he has to force the truth out of you, then you guys will share a touching moment with a hug or something. Do you see where I'm heading with this lovely Shakespearian tale, Finn?"

"I guess so," Finn said, trying to absorb everything Rachel had said. "I just don't know what these feelings mean, is that good enough an answer to give?"

"You don't have to have an answer for everything," Rachel's comment struck home. "You can be unsure, vulnerable, it doesn't mean you have to marry Kurt, or not marry Kurt. You can be there for Kurt, you can hug Kurt, do whatever you want with Kurt...but acknowledge it for what it truly is. If you hold hands with him, it's holding hands just like you and I have held hands before. Don't try to hide it under the disguise of 'brotherly love' like it's something that is so easy to pretend is something different. One hug, one walk hand in hand does not make you gay, Finn. Not necessarily, that is. I think you have much to think about, and most of it has to come from your end...but you have to approach it with an open mind and an open heart or you'll never get the answers you want."

Finn found a bench on the sidewalk and sat down. Rachel was right, but he still wasn't sure where to start, what to do. He thanked Rachel for her advice and hung up the phone, blinking. He sat there, letting snow pile up on his clothes, thinking.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Kurt was trying to see through the snow that was blowing every which way as he drove his car in search of Finn. Rachel had called Kurt and told him that she and Finn were talking about what was going on, and that he was walking around town somewhere. _He's freakishly tall, _Kurt thought. _How hard can he be to find?_

Sure enough, after 10 minutes of trying to look out his windows at every angle, Kurt saw Finn's figure sitting on a bench, snow all over him, as if he hadn't moved for days. Kurt pulled up a safe distance away, he didn't want Finn to start running away from him, he didn't know what kind of emotional state Finn was in. Getting out of the car, he made his way at a brisk pace over to Finn, who looked up at him as he kneeled by him and started brushing the snow off him.

"Kurt, I-"

"Don't," Kurt held up a hand, his face getting hot. "Just, don't, Finn. I don't want to know, not right now. Just get in the car and don't talk to me on the way home." Finn got up, and did as he was told, his heart sinking in his chest. Kurt drove back to the house as fast as he could while still ensuring his and Finn's safety. Kurt dragged Finn downstairs to their room and made him sit on his bed. Finn watched as Kurt ran around a few times up and down the stairs, getting things and heading into the bathroom. He heard as Kurt started the water in the bathtub, and heard the sounds of the privacy partition being set up. Kurt came out of the bathroom, sleeves rolled up and his face stone in its appearance.

"You," he pointed at Finn. "Bath, now." Kurt didn't waste any time helping Finn out of his snow clothes, but walked back into the bathroom and behind the partition and let Finn take off the rest of his clothes, shivering in the cold and from the cold he had sat out in. Finn headed into the bathroom, seeing the tub filled with water that had steam rising off of it, and he recognized the scented candles from before that he had used for Kurt, lit and filling the air with a pleasant aroma.

Finn slipped into the bath, the hot water piercing his skin like needles, but it felt good against his cold body, and he let out a relaxed sigh. There was a silence where Finn heard nothing from Kurt, and only heard the sounds of the bath water sloshing slightly as he moved.

"Let's talk," Kurt said finally. "But like you said, no fighting. I don't want to yell, I don't want to fight anymore Finn."

"I'm sorry," Finn started, but then he heard Kurt sigh.

"You always begin with an apology when nothing is wrong," Kurt explained. "Why don't you just tell me what is going on? I know you had a bad dream and that something bad happened to someone you care about, but is that any reason to just leave without saying anything?"

"I have a lot of things on my mind right now," Finn said, trying not to add an 'I'm sorry' after that. "I feel like I have to apologize to you though. Not because of this morning, but because of last night. I have been leading you on Kurt."

"What are you talking about?" Kurt tried to shrug off Finn's words.

"You know what I mean," Finn said, sitting up in the tub, facing the privacy partition. "You know exactly what I mean. I have been doing all these things like snuggling with you and holding your hand, and I've been lying to myself about it. I convinced myself that if my mind was in the right place it didn't matter what we did. I put my own thoughts above your feelings, Kurt. I didn't want you to think that I was trying to hurt you, but I did hurt you didn't I?"

"I'm not as sad as I look," Kurt said. "I have been able to tell myself that you and I will never have what I want us to have, but it's tough Finn. It gets tougher when you invite me to sleep with you. Even though we both kept our clothes on, the feelings, the emotions, the intentions are still there. I can't keep falling in love with you, I can't do it. I can't put myself in that position to just be at your side and then get asked to move to the back of the bus because you are going to hide your feelings with a feeling that you are comfortable with. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Finn said, taking a deep breath. "I will tell you right now, I don't know what my feelings mean. I wish I had a better answer for you, but I don't. I feel more than friendship for you, you are really awesome, Kurt, in more ways than I could list in a lifetime...but I'm scared to commit to saying that I am something if I've never had to say it before. I loved Quinn, I even loved Rachel when we went out. I mean I really loved them, because they were girls and I liked girls. I mean, there were plenty of other reasons but I just never looked at guys before other than friends."

"All that doesn't mean you're gay Finn," Kurt said softly, it really hurt him to say that and Finn could tell. "You don't need to suddenly come out to the world now just because you say you love me. Just be aware that you did say that and it means something to me, and if you don't mean it, don't say it to me because if you throw me under the bus so help me-"

"I would never do that," Finn said instantly. "I'm trying to be honest about my feelings, I really am. I feel terrible for leading you on and it took a lecture from Rachel for it to sink in. I don't want you to think I'm just some guy who says things and doesn't care about your feelings. I might not have been going about things the right way but give me a second chance and I will try harder to be honest with myself and with you."

"You don't need to ask for a second chance," Kurt said. "We aren't some stupid pair of friends who call each other 'bffs' and then stab each other in the back. You can always come to me for anything Finn, just like I can come to you. It's a two-sided coin but you have to let it be that."

"I will try," Finn said. "I'll try my hardest, just please cut me some slack, give me a sign or something if I suddenly do something stupid."

"Ok, cowboy," Kurt laughed. "Just to be clear, I still expect hugs from you."

"I'm all about hugs!" Finn smiled. "Any time you need them! And I still expect head-rubs from you."

"And I won't even charge you for them." Kurt and Finn laughed.

"Finn," Kurt was hesitant in what he said next. "You said once you loved me, and you meant it in whatever way you meant it. Well...I love you too."

Finn splashed some of the bath water towards the privacy partition, laughing softly.

"You big softy." Finn whispered in Kurt's direction.

**A/N:**Yay another chapter down! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! :) Finn and Kurt are getting closer, hopefully now Finn won't dismiss his feelings as "guy love" haha. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! ~BlueRain26


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **Standard disclaimers apply

**A/N: **I'm back! Sorry it has taken so long everyone, my old computer died, then it was like forever until I got a new one, then I got another job and between work and other things my life has been consumed!-however, I will be continuing this fanfic and I hope you will all stay with me! Submit a review and let me know what you all think of Ch. 8! :) THANK YOU

**Chapter 8**

"Finn!" Kurt yelled from behind the privacy partition as Finn splashed him with bath water, almost soaking his shoes. Kurt could hear Finn laughing his deep laugh from the tub, when his laugh was cut off by a loud squeak, and Kurt could hear Finn's voice get cutt off as his head went under the water. As if by a jerk reaction, Kurt pushed down the privacy partition, and then realized his mistake.

Finn was dripping, his hair plastered to his face, his eyes wide as Kurt stood there... Finn was also naked in the tub that Kurt stood like a deer in headlights by. Kurt opened mouth to see if he could even stutter out something, but no noise came from him, and he just ran out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and slumping up against it, sliding to the floor, his mouth still hanging open as he shook his head.

Kurt couldn't believe he just saw Finn naked, it was something he would have thouroughly enjoyed at any other point in his life, but for some reason he seemed shocked and could feel his face going red. The image replayed in his mind, and he knew it was useless to try and shut it out. The thought of Finn in the tub would forever haunt him like a lingering B-flat. The door to the bathroom opened, causing Kurt to fall backwards, until Finn's strong arm caught him and hauled him to his feet, turning him around. Kurt put his hands up, not sure if Finn was still naked, but Finn pulled his hands down, revealing a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Um," Finn wasn't really sure how to begin this conversation. "Any particular reason you decided to mame the privacy partition?" Kurt could feel a giggle from inside, but he kept it there.

"I-" Kurt was regaining his voice now, finally. "I heard you slip and I-I guess I-"

"Assumed that I was going to drown in the tub?" Finn arched an eyebrow. "You know, that would never happen... I'm just that big." Finn jerked forward slightly at the double-meaning behind his last comment, noticing Kurt's face get a deeper shade of red. "I'm gonna go to Quinn's for a bit," Finn said. "But you can't come." he said even quicker, Kurt looking at him as if he had three heads. "I just want to spend some time with Quinn, I feel like she needs some company while Puck is at work, and I think it would be good for me to spend more time with her to prep myself for when the baby comes." Kurt nodded, he loved how mature Finn was acting, it was a side of Finn no one really got a chance to see unless they were very close to him. Kurt found it admirable that with all the drama attached to the baby situation, that Finn still wanted to be in Quinn and the baby's life.

"Ok," Kurt said, nodding and trying to give a smile. "I'll be here, are you going to be back for dinner?"

"I'm gonna make you dinner tonight," Finn nodded. "So don't start anything, because I still owe you. I promise you'll like it," he laughed.

"I'm sure I will," Kurt said, smiling. "Just remember, you owe me so it better be good." Finn chuckled and ruffled Kurt's hair and heading out the door.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

"Oh my God!" Quinn said as Finn continued to crochet his gift for Kurt, whose birthday was coming up within the week. "You totally have a crush on Kurt!" Quinn squeeled, pointing a finger at Finn, who looked up at her with confusion.

"What?" He asked, trying to focus on his crocheting. "I do not..."

"How do you know?" Quinn asked, giggling. "You said yourself you can't tell what your feelings are."

"It doesn't mean I love him," Finn said, but quickly caught himself. "I mean, I do love him, but I don't-Why do girls make everything so confusing?" he said frustrated as he put his gift down on the kitchen table. "It makes me want to give up women all together!"

Quinn was screaming on the inside, she totally called it: Finn loved Kurt. Instead of rubbing it in Finn's face, she picked up his crocheting and continued for him. Finn seemed to be staring off into space, he still couldn't wrap his head around it. He loved Kurt, but he wasn't gay... or at least, he had never been in love with a guy before. He also didn't say he loved any other guys either, so the fact that he said it pretaining to Kurt made him wonder.

"I-" He stuttered, trying to form the sentence that his mind wouldn't allow him to. "I'm not-"

Quinn, seeing Finn getting stuck, put her hand on his, looking up at him. His adorable eyes she had longed to look into were now filled with fear and confusion, and something else she couldn't read.

"Finn," She said softly, give his arm a shake. "Finn, hey... Listen, I'm not trying to tell you that you are something you feel you're not. However, if you look at what you have been saying, it doesn't necessarily add up to a definite answer. All I'm saying is don't be so quick to label yourself... If you like Kurt, it doesn't mean you have to rush home and date him. Remember, he isn't used to this whole thing either, and if he saw you naked today, I would venture to say he's still in shock. Just take it slow, and let things happen in their own way."

"I can't be gay," Finn looked sullen. "I just can't be."

"Why not?" Quinn asked. "Who cares if you are? You don't actually think people will judge you because of it? Well, outside of Glee club they might, but being gay doesn't mean you are going to get fitted for designer clothes and have to start carrying around a little dog in a purse or anything. You are still you, your personality is the same and no one can change that."

Finn nodded, although he still couldn't really grasp the fact that he did feel something more for Kurt. Finn was always the kind of guy who either was very honest about his feelings, or hid them completely out of sight. Not being able to put his feelings into words that made sense to him now just made his head spin.

"No one said high school life was easy," Quinn put her hand on Finn's shoulder, her eyes softening as she gazed at the boy who used to be the love of her life. Finn looked up at her, and even though there was no clear emotion written all over his face, Quinn knew that inside, he was definitely feeling something powerful. "Just..." Quinn's voice almost broke and Finn almost looked concerned. "Just don't let it defeat you. You are you," Finn smiled as he watched the cheerleader almost lose her composer before she took a deep breath, looked at him and giggled sheepishly. "You are you, and screw everyone else."

"That might be the coolest thing I've heard the President of the Celibacy Club say." Finn smiled and Quinn laughed as she wrapped her arms tight around him.

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Kurt's stomach growled, he was fighting the urge to charge into the kitchen with full force and whip up something. _No,_ Kurt thought. _Finn should be home soon, and it's still kind of early for dinner, so it will give him time to do whatever he needs to do...I really hope he doesn't make my kitchen a mess though, I can't stand it when people do that...counters all crumb-y, stove all flaky, dishes piling up in the sink...Am I really talking about everything that bugs me to myself?_ Kurt sighed. _I need to get out of the kitchen then out of the house more often._

Sounds of the door opening, and Kurt tried to hide the fact that he was lighting up on the inside as Finn walked through the door. Finn could see it plain as day on Kurt's face that he was happy to see him, and gave Kurt one of those heart-melting quarterback smiles.

"I can't tell if you just have severe seperation anxiety issues since I was only gone for a few hours, or if you're just really hungry." Finn joked, taking his jacket off and heading into the kitchen where Kurt followed him to.

"Definitely just hungry," Kurt laughed. "I don't know why either, it's still pretty early."

Finn shrugged and began to take things out of the regrigerator.

"What are you making anyway?" Kurt asked as he stared at the various assortment of things that Finn was gathering on the center counter.

"I'm not telling you," Finn smiled. "The best prize is a surprise." Kurt gave one of those smiles that was half smile, half almost aggitation from not knowing what Finn was up to. "Hey, I said you would like it, didn't I?"

"Well yeah," Kurt replied, brushing his fingers through his hair. "But our parents told us that Santa Claus was real when we were kids, and we all know how that story ends."

"What, you don't believe in Santa Claus? I'm kidding" Finn laughed at Kurt's 'are you serious' reaction.

"I'm not commenting on any of my beliefs in the overly perky, large man that devulges in breaking and entering houses just to give kids socks and a football wrapped in shiny paper, as if they expect the shiny paper to soften the blow that they got a football or generic wool socks."

"Dude, that's like, all I ever got from Santa...I'm kidding Kurt, jeez man," Finn chuckled as Kurt almost burst into rapid apology for what he had just said.

"Finn Hudson, you're jokes, while appreciated in their dry sense, are sometimes hard to be labeled as jokes."

Finn rifled around in a drawer before pulling out a knife and beginning to cut vegetables and putting them into a giant pot.

"Well, why should we label them as anything?" Finn said, trying to ease his way into a conversation with Kurt about what he and Quinn had just talked about. "I mean, shouldn't we just, like, accept that they are what they are and probably won't be changed much over the years?"

"I suppose," Kurt shrugged. "I think we've deviated from our original subject, I guess my point is that just because someone says something doesn't mean it's true." Finn stopped chopping for about a second and then picked it back up, throwing the rest of the vegatables into the pot and adding some chicken stock.

"Well, I think it depends on the person who is saying—whatever it is they're saying." Finn thought he was at least almost getting to the point he wanted to.

"Not really," Kurt said, almost without missing a beat. "I mean, it's not that I wouldn't trust a good friend more than I would someone who I don't like to be around. I think at some point you have to decide for yourself what's real and what's not. Whether it' realistic, or just a really good-looking lie."

"That's a bit unfair for the other person if they really believe in what they say," Finn blinked, looking at Kurt. "I mean, if they trully have faith in what they're saying, or what they're feeling, shouldn't that be taken into consideration?"

"Well of course," Kurt replied non-chalantly. "Of course it should be at they very least taken seriously, but let's face it Finn...let's be honest that if something is so large and outrageous we have to be realistic."

"Kurt-"

"I mean, come on, if it's something that plausable, then ok, but if it's just some hit out to left field or whatever that sports reference is, then it's not worth it for anyone to persue that thought."

"Kurt, I-"

"Finn, your stock is boiling." Kurt pointed to the stove where the liquid contents of the pot were bubbling up, as if built up by the tension the conversation was having on Finn's brain. Turning the stove down a bit, Finn took a deep breath and turned his back to Kurt, digging through the fridge for anything else he needed. Kurt, noticing that there was a sense of tension in what Finn was doing, sat down at a chair at the center counter.

"Why are you being so weird?"

"What?" Finn asked, a little shocked that Kurt would ask that.

"Why are you acting so passionate about something like me accepting the myth that Santa Claus is real?"

"That's not what I was talking about," Finn said. "I'm just saying that if someone really believes in what they're saying, it shouldn't be tossed aside just because it might seem...new."

"I though you were an easy book to read, Hudson," Kurt said, chuckling softly. "but either you are more challenging than I thought, or there are some major plot holes in your mind."

"Yeah," Finn tried to just end the conversation, he suddenly wasn't feeling so confident. "I guess I'm just weird."

"Oh come on," Kurt said, getting up and walking over to where Finn was still staring blankly into the refrigerator. "Finn, come on...Finn." Kurt shut the fridge door and Finn turned to look down at Kurt who looked up at him with confusion. "What's this really about?"

"I don't know," Finn shrugged away Kurt's hand that was attempting to rest on his arm. "I just never figured you would be the one to dismiss things so quickly."

"Hey now," Kurt tried to laugh that comment off. "I didn't say that. I just said that if something is attainable that's one thing, but if it's totally unrealistic for me to try and understand it, then I shouldn't try to figure it out. Just let it be."

"Unrealistic for you?" Finn added noodles to the pot and brought it to a slow and steady boil. "What about the other person? If they feel it's real, then why you just dismiss it so quickly just because it doesn't fit into your idea of what's real or what's not."

"Why are we having this conversation?" Kurt asked, his tone rising only slightly. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

Finn turned to face him, and he felt his heart sink in his chest. He couldn't tell Kurt how he felt, and it wasn't for lack of wanting to. Finn could not put into realistic and acceptable words for Kurt how he was feeling, and the idea of being rejected by someone he cared so much for was not what he wanted to be dealing with right now.

"There's nothing to tell," Finn said, turning back to his dinner. "I just got a little worked up. Sorry about that..."

Kurt sighed lightly and went back to his chair on the center counter, where he could face Finn.

"Hey," Kurt stared until Finn's eyes met his. "I would never just dismiss your feelings if you believed in something ok? Is that what this is about?"

"I don't know." Finn said quickly, his gaze returning to his creation on the stove. "Let's just drop it, ok?" Finn could feel Kurt's gaze still locked on him, and although he tried to ignore it, he had to eventually look up. "What's up?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm supposed to be enjoying my dinner," Kurt said, in that unique way that only Kurt could get away with around Finn. "I'm supposed to be happy that we can share time together, and you go and get confusing and emotional on me, then tell me to drop it. Something's going on in that head of your head, and I'm gonna figure out what it is."

"Stop," Finn said, as if he were scolding a child. "It's none of your business, just leave it alone."

"Does Quinn know?" Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Does this have anything to do with whatever you guys talked about today in your mysterious meeting at her house?"

"Don't get her involved," Finn said. "Don't get anyone involved, just forget it."

"Finn," Kurt got out of his chair and although he only came up to Finn's chest, he was still a little intimidating. "If you don't tell me, I will go see Quinn myself and find out what it is that's got you this way."

"Kurt-"

"I mean, look I get it: you are just trying to get me to see your side of the situation," Kurt's eyes flittered from Finn to random areas, as if he was formulating what to say. "I'm sorry I can't see your side of it because I have no idea what you are trying to say and I wish I knew-"

"Kurt, I-"

"-What really bugs me is that you would think after the talk we just had you would be comfortable enough around me to say how you trully feel and know that I would never just blow you off-"

"Kurt, I'm trying to tell you-"

"Finn," Kurt stopped and gave Finn what he had called the 'death glare'. "Now I'm confused because I have no idea where I'm trying to go with what I'm saying because I have no idea where you are trying to go and it's all just swirling around and making this a dizzy, complicated situation-"

"Kurt!" Finn almost snapped, causing Kurt to stop speaking and look at him. "I've been trying to tell you. I've been trying to put into words what I can't and it's driving me insane." Kurt felt a lump in his throat and he blinked. Finn continued, "I'm trying to explain to you what my side is, but I don't have a solid 'side' to be on..."

"Finn, don't-"

"I've been trying to tell you this for a long time," Finn crossed over to the side of the counter Kurt was standing on. "I still don't know how solid of a thing this is with me..."

"Finn, I'm serious," Kurt's voice shook slightly. "Don't you dare say what I think you are about to say."

"I have to," Finn said, attempting to take Kurt's hand, but Kurt drew his hand away. "I have to at least see how it feels for me to say it."

"Why?" Kurt asked sternly. "Why is it so important for you? So that if you don't like the way it sounds or the way it feels you just can pretend it was never said?"

"I don't know how I'd deal with it, but I shouldn't be afraid to say it if it's how I'm feeling," Finn took Kurt's hand and held it even as Kurt wiggled to get out of his grip. "I have to know that at least I was good enough to say it to you."

"Finn Hudson, I swear to God that if you say it-"

"I like you." Finn said, cutting Kurt off. Tears started to form in Kurt's eyes, but he blinked them away and tried again to release his hand from Finn's. "I mean, I like you more than a brother," Finn continued, determined to get it all out in the open for Kurt to understand. "I just want to be near you all the time, and I don't know why. I mean, you're amazing and all, but it's not about just being around you when you're feeling happy or telling a joke. I want to be there when you are sad, when you think you can't keep going. I want to be able to pick you up in my arms and let you know that it's ok, you've fought enough and I can carry you the rest of the way."

"You are just saying that because it sounds good now," Kurt let it out in a strained whisper. "You think that it's going to be a glamerous ride, but you don't know the first thing about dating another guy, let alone being in a relationship or intimate with another guy."

"Are you an expert all of a sudden?" Finn asked, his eyes fixed on Kurt's. "Why can't you be happy that I'm being honest with you?"

"You put me through hell!" Kurt almost shouted. "You were the one guy I had a huge crush on, then you go and call me names, or tell me to back off. I had to learn to let go of all those feelings on my own Finn! Do you think that was easy? I couldn't go to anyone about it, who would really understand be able to keep it between us? I had to let go and re-build myself because you were...you are straight. Then, we start to spend more time together and you go and tell me that you like me? You have no idea how messed up that is, and I don't ever want to hear you say that again!"

"I do like you-"

"No!" Kurt said. "No you don't, so stop saying it!"

"Kurt," Finn tried to close the space between him and Kurt. "I like you for exactly who you are, I want to be with you."

"Stop it!" Kurt though if he shouted it long enough Finn would come back to his senses.

"I can't," Finn said without missing a beat. "I like you a lot Kurt, I think I love you-"

Kurt didn't hit like a girl, so when his hand landed across Finn's face, Finn felt an initial sting, but then the full force of the hit as Kurt's hand followed through. Finn couldn't believe Kurt just slapped him across the face after he told him that he loved him. At the impact of the slap, Finn had released Kurt's hand from his. Finn looked down after getting over the shock to see Kurt, hair strewn about his face, tears running down to his chin, his body shaking. Finn made a move towards Kurt who, almost instinctively, backed up.

"You..." Kurt pointed at Finn, his hand trembling. "You. Jerk."

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

Finn was still in shock even an hour after watching Kurt run down the stairs to their room and slam the door that seperated their room from the rest of the house. Finn had time to finish his dinner and he left it on the stove on low heat just to keep it hot as he made his way down the stairs. Finn wasn't sure if he was going to a happy ending, like the ones he saw on TV, or if he was walking into another slap-down, but he wasn't concerned with any of that at the moment.

Hearing Finn's footsteps down the stairs caused Kurt to jerk up from his bed. Running over to door quietly, he locked the door, preventing Finn from coming in. Kurt returned to his bed, and burried his face into his pillow. A year ago, to have Finn say the he loved him would have had Kurt on Cloud 9, but now, with everything they had been through, Kurt felt different about it. He didn't want to be the guy who "converted" the star football quarterback. He didn't want to be responsible for any tension he would now be causing the Glee club because now he made their male star bat for his team. Then, Finn's voice started to replay in his head.

_"I just want to be near you all the time, and I don't know why. I mean, you're amazing and all, but it's not about just being around you when you're feeling happy or telling a joke. I want to be there when you are sad, when you think you can't keep going. I want to be able to pick you up in my arms and let you know that it's ok, you've fought enough and I can carry you the rest of the way."_

Could Finn really be serious? And was Kurt really judging him for not being able to say this to him before? True, he had never had feelings for guys before, so this must be stressful for him, too. _Going from being the typical All-American teenager to the "Gay Kid" must have been tough for Finn,_ Kurt though, wiping his tears. _And it must have taken a lot of thinking on his part to come up and tell me without fear. It doesn't make the situation any better, but in a way, it's like he feels he can be totally honest with me because he knows I won't judge him no matter how much I disagree with him...and I just slapped him like I was playing Whack-a-Mole on his face...dammit._

Kurt heard the door knob jiggle and turning to face it, he saw the doorknob fall to the floor, and the door gently open to reveal Finn kneeled on the ground, a screwdriver in one hand, the doorknob from the other side of the door in the other, and the typical Finn Hudson "oops" look on his face. Putting the things down on the floor, Finn stood up, and stepped into the room where he made his way towards Kurt, who had his eyes fixed on Finn's.

Stopping at Kurt's bedside, Finn waited until Kurt moved over and Finn had enough room to sit down next to him. Finn sat a safe distance away from Kurt, out of both respect for him and fear that he might move on from slapping and actually punch him in the face.

Kurt noticed how one side of Finn's face was badly red from where he had slapped him, he clearly didn't know his own strength. Finn moved closer, but only slightly, still wanting to maintain a safe distance.

"I'm sorry." Finn said, looking into Kurt's eyes, which were red and puffy from crying. "I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have forced you to hear it...but I didn't want to hold it in any longer...I just-"

Kurt put a finger to Finn's lips, cutting off his sentence. Kurt took the back of his hand and gently caressed the side of Finn's face where he had slapped him, causing Finn to wince slightly, hoping Kurt woulnd't notice, since he felt he deserved it. Kurt, however did notice, and gently cupped Finn's face with the other side of his hand before moving closer to him.

"Kurt-" Finn started, but was stopped mid-sentence as Kurt's lips met his. It was a split moment of confusion and elation before Finn wrapped an arm around Kurt and pulled him in closer, shifting and taking charge of the kiss, gently enjoying the softness of Kurt's lips against his before pulling away. "-I'm sorry...I'm...I'm just...I'm so sorry..." Finn couldn't find any words to say.

Kurt leaned in and kissed Finn again, this time with a bit more passion and pulled away, wrapping his arms around Finn and leaning in to whisper in his ear, "Don't you ever fuck me over like this again, Finn Hudson." Finn's heart melted at this, and he pulled Kurt into a tight embrace, his body sheilding Kurt's from anything else that could have happened to him in any other circumstance.

"I will never leave you," Finn said, his hand running through Kurt's hair. "I'll always be right here. I'll be...perfect. For you."

Kurt felt safe. For the first time, he felt loved. For the first time, he felt a combination of both that he had never felt before. He didn't know if this thing with Finn would work out, but he hoped it would. He didn't want anything else than to be in this place, this feeling, this moment...with the boy of his dreams.

**A/N:** Well, good enough for you guys? Haha, I thought it was pretty good, now you guys won't have to deal with Finn's angsty "Am I gay? Am I straight?" antics...as much...but I don't wanna give any future chapters away :P I really hope you all did enjoy this, and please please please SUBMIT A REVIEW! I almost didn't continue this fanfic, but all the support and joy that it gives you guys is so rewarding for me that I am going to finish this fic out just like I planned, but I love to hear what you guys think about it! So please, go submit a review and I'll see you all in chapter 9! :) :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Glee, but I do own Kurt's whack-a-mole slapping abilities.

**A/N: **See? I told you guys I was back! :) I know it's been a short while since ch. 8 was up, and I appreciate all the reviews you guys left-it's so great to know that people are sticking with me on this and continuing to read! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please don't forget to submit a review! It's so greatly appreciated to see what you guys think! So, now that Finn and Kurt are... "together" or at least have gotten all their feelings out in the open, we will be exploring their relationship from here...another pair I really like is Brittany and Santana, so look for them possibly in here and definitely in the future! Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

**Chapter 9**

"Kurt?" Kurt heard a voice whisper in his ear, gently. "Kurt? It's time to get up...well, it was never really time to go to sleep but..."

Blinking one eye open, Kurt saw Finn towering over him, causing Kurt to jerk up suddenly, noticing that he was tangled in Finn's sheets on his bed.

"What just happened?" Kurt rubbed his head, thinking. "Please tell me I didn't just dream that all...I mean...we kissed right?" Finn chuckled, a smile on his face as he knelt down and took Kurt's hand.

"We definitely kissed," Finn chuckled, gazing gently at Kurt. Then, Kurt noticed the unmistakable gleam in Finn's eyes. "We kissed, it was perfect; beautiful...then you suddenly started making funny noises," Kurt flushed at this, but Finn only chuckled and went on. "Kurt Hummel, you are the only guy I know who could be in the middle of a kiss and literally fall asleep on the spot."

"You are kidding me," Kurt said, untangling himself from the sheets and standing up. "That can't be right, there's no way I just passed out like that."

"I'm not kidding, dude," Finn started laughing. "We kissed for maybe two minutes before you just slumped and started snoring in my ear. Oh hey, it's not big deal, we will just chalk it up to emotional stress got the best of you," Finn ruffled Kurt's hair. "The classic 'Damsel in distress rescued by the Hero and fainting in his arms.'"

"A very active imagination you have," Kurt smiled. "I guess I'm just glad it wasn't a dream...what smells so good?" Kurt's nose seemed to perk up and he sniffed the air. Finn just laughed again.

"I made dinner you goof," Finn said, very proud of himself. "You would know that if you just stayed upstairs instead of making this a classic love scene and locking yourself down here—I had to MacGuyver the door open with just a screwdriver!"

Kurt smiled, he felt warm inside. He thought he would be more hesitant with this new wave of feelings that Finn had chosen to just suddenly drop on him. It just felt right, and although Kurt couldn't put his finger on it, he was happy for the first time in a long time.

"Well," Kurt said, brushing himself off. "I'm hungry now so I suggest we go upstairs and enjoy that dinner you said I would love."

"Sounds good to me," Finn smiled and took Kurt's hand in his, leading him up the stairs. "But there's a 'no judgments' policy on this dinner. It's not as good as the stuff you make, but I tried really hard to make it good enough for you."

"I'm sure it will be just fine," Kurt said, following Finn upstairs to the kitchen.

Finn was a real gentleman, pulling out a chair for Kurt, even though Kurt told him twice he didn't have to. Finn set a bowl of the soup down in front of Kurt before serving himself. The aroma itself was enough to make Kurt's stomach growl in anticipation. Kurt slowly brought a spoonful to his mouth and found it to be surprisingly very good, and despite the fact that it was vegetables and chicken stock mostly, it wasn't a boring dish at all.

"This is good," Kurt nodded at Finn, taking another spoonful. "It's really good. I mean like, really good!"

"Relax dude," Finn smiled, trying to brush off the compliment. "It's vegetable soup. It's not a fancy dish that you can't find anywhere else."

"Yeah, but who is going to be able to make it taste this good? I'm serious Finn," Kurt couldn't help but take spoonful after spoonful. "This is good and you should really consider making dinner more often."

"Oh, is that so?" Finn chuckled. "Not just trying to get out of having to make dinner all the time now, are we?"

"Maybe a little bit," Kurt said, putting down his spoon before he devoured the entire bowl in front of him.

"Well, I'm down with that," Finn began to eat his food, which truthfully wasn't bad. He found that, even with all the coordination it took him to eat, he was staring at Kurt the entire time. Kurt seemed to be looking out the window, watching the snow fall as the sky danced with the colors of being in between night and day. Eventually, Kurt met Finn's eyes, and smiled, giggling.

"What are you looking at, Hudson?" Kurt's eyes danced a little bit, filling Finn with a warmth that spread to his face, causing him to turn, just ever so slightly, a light shade of pink.

"You," Finn said, almost with a little stutter. "Guess I couldn't help it...but then, your bedhead is pretty distracting right now." Kurt's eyes went wide and he began to furiously try to fix his hair. Finn, chuckling, went over and gently straightened out Kurt's hair, before ruffling it in a way that made it into a bad-looking mohawk.

"Finn!" Kurt said, trying to hide his smile and trying to push Finn aside. "You're going to-you can't just-" Kurt grabbed both of Finn's hands and tried to push him out of the way. Finn pushed back gently, but was still large enough compared to his small opponent that Kurt almost fell out of his chair because of the weight difference. Finn reached out and caught him, hauling him to his feet. Refusing to admit defeat or acknowledge any help, Kurt still wiggled in Finn's grip. Smiling, Finn reached over and straightened Kurt's hair again, this time just leaving it as it was, tracing his fingers down the soft, delicate side of Kurt's face. Kurt smiled up at him, leaning up on his tiptoes to kiss him, but stopping just inches from Finn's lips, letting out a breath that was almost like a sigh before pulling away. Finn let out a heavy sigh, smiling down at Kurt and shaking his head.

"That was not nice," Finn said, turning a little red and trying to keep his chuckle in. Kurt giggled and pushed Finn back, making him sit in the chair near them. Sitting in the chair, Finn was eye level with Kurt, who was still enjoying his position of power.

"Had to get you down to my height," Kurt said, running his fingers through Finn's hair. "Leaning up to kiss you all the time is going to give me calf muscles like a Hungarian shot-putter." Finn arched an eyebrow, as if he was letting the image of Kurt with bulging calf muscles was lingering in his mind.

"I could get used to that," Finn's smiled. "I bet you'd be the fastest runner on the football team."

Kurt leaned in, and kissed Finn gently at first, before leaning in further and parting his lips. Finn, who was normally a leader and not a follower, parted his lips and felt Kurt's tongue slip in and explore his mouth. Finn leaned forward, so used to being the "man" in these situations and returned the gesture. There were a couple instances where Finn almost got up out of the chair, forgetting that he would be much taller than Kurt, but Kurt still managed to keep him sitting down The kiss wasn't like any other kiss Finn had experienced, it was simple but beautiful and for once Finn felt like he didn't have to prove himself in any way. Finn was able to be in the moment of that kiss, he didn't have to think about anything, he could just do what felt natural. As he felt Kurt's soft lips pull away from his, Finn lingered in the moment, eyes closed, breathing in and exhaling as he opened his eyes. Kurt was looking back at him, an innocent smile on his face.

"Look at you, Kurt Hummel," Finn smiled and took Kurt's hand in his. "You just made out with the start quarterback of the football team, and you didn't randomly fall asleep this time."

:~~~~~~******~~~~~~:

"I'll wash, you dry," Finn said, taking the pots and dishes from dinner and placing them in the sink. Rolling up his sleeves, Finn added soap before turning on the faucet and scrubbing the remnants from their 'romantic dinner' off the dishes. Kurt, grabbing a towel and leaning up against the counter, grabbed dishes as they were set down, drying them and saying, "Squeeky clean!" as he finished drying and putting them away.

When all was said and done, Kurt sat at the counter while Finn grabbed a glass of water and leaned against the counter while he drank. Taking a look at the kitchen, he admired their effort at cleaning up, something he never would have done if he was just living with his mother who insisted on cleaning everything up herself.

"Damn, our parents are gonna be so proud of us when they get home, making dinner and everything-"

"Oh God," Kurt's heart skipped a beat as reality hit him like a brick wall. "Oh my God-!"

"What?" Finn asked, seeing Kurt's face turning red, then incredibly pale. "What's wrong? Are you choking?" Finn went over to pat Kurt on the back but Kurt turned to face him and grabbed his arms as if to steady himself.

"Our parents," Kurt said, taking a sharp breath in. "Oh God-oh shit Finn, our parents!" Kurt started lightly hitting Finn's arm.

"What about them?" Finn asked, trying to read what Kurt was trying to tell him.

"Finn," Kurt finally was able to calm down just enough to stare right into Finn's eyes, his gorgeous eyes. "Our parents are dating...they are thinking about marriage...Finn you can't date your brother." Finn finally understood and reality sunk in.

"Shit..." Finn slowly slumped into a chair nearby. All the moments, all the fights and the make-ups and the talks and the hugs...and that kiss...what was it all for now? "...how did we forget about this? I mean, wasn't this like the driving force of why we wanted to be so careful to begin with?"

"We got lost in all that stupid emotional crap," Kurt said, sadness written all over his face. "We let our minds believe we could make it work by shoving away any and all thought that we might be related soon."

"Well," Finn shrugged, still clinging on to the idea. "I mean, it's not like we're blood related or anything..."

"Don't play the semantics game with me," Kurt looked at Finn. "Please don't...this was supposed to be a happy moment and now..."

"Now what?" Finn asked gently, moving closer to Kurt.

"Now it's just harder." Kurt managed to say. "We should have never tried to think we could do this Finn, it's not going to end well and I don't want to lose everything because of this-"

"Kurt," Finn grabbed Kurt by the shoulders, gently moving his hands to Kurt's elbows. "Don't freak out, ok? Let's just take this one step at a time."

"Finn," Kurt looked almost desperate now. "what are we going to do about it? Wait until our parents get home and say 'Well, we know you guys wanted to spend the rest of your lives together, but we found out we like each other so we are gonna date anyway'? You know that won't work, and we can't just make our parents stop their plans of getting married if that's what they want to do."

"I know," Finn said, his mind still wrapping around the concept. "But who knows? I mean, it's not an absolute thing that they will want to be married still, right?"

"Finn-"

"I mean, Jesus, they could come back from this trip and realize that they hate each other-"

"Finn, I don't think that's going to happen-"

"I know, my mom thinks 'hate' is a strong word too...still, it might not work out...right?"

At this point, Finn was looking for something, anything that could convince him that all the time and all the courage it took him to finally be honest with himself and Kurt wasn't all for nothing.

"If only it worked that way," Kurt slid his hand into Finn's, interlacing their fingers and pulling Finn closer to him. "Don't get me wrong, I wish there was another way we could go about this...but I just don't think realistically it will just happen that our parents decide not to go through with their plans."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Finn asked. "I can't be with anyone else but you, and I won't be...I'm not like you, I'm new at this and-"

Kurt leaned up and kissed Finn on the cheek, just a gentle kiss that got the message across.

"I know," Kurt said, nodding. "I know this isn't an easy thing for either of us to think about. So, what do you suggest we do?" Finn shook his head.

"I think we continue and wait until our parents get home and see if they really plan on going through with this 'marriage' thing. If they do, then we can do whatever you want...but if they don't, we stay together." Kurt caressed Finn's hand and smiled up at the quarterback. If nothing else but desperate, Finn was also determined, and loyal. Finn leaned down and put his forehead on Kurt's, gently letting out a sigh. "Is it bad that I secretly hope that we can stay together?"

"Depends on how you look at it," Kurt said, rubbing Finn's arm. "You want us to be together, not for our parents to be unhappy, so I'd say what you're hoping for is a good thing...it just might have to come at the expense of something else."

Finn opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Letting go of Kurt's hand, the two boys took a deep breath and went to go open the door. Kurt's heart stopped in his chest when he opened the door.

"D-d-Dad?" Kurt half asked half sputtered as Burt Hummel and Carole Hudson walked through the door, Finn standing there looking pale.

"Surprise!" Carole smiled, hugging each of the boys tightly. "We were able to catch a flight home early, we had to spend more than we hoped for-"

"-But we beat the storm home, and that's what's important." Burt finished her sentence for her, before picking up his things and heading up the stairs to set them down in his room.

"So, how have you boys been while we were gone?" Carole smiled. "Finn, honey, you look a little pale, are you sick?"

"No, Mom," Finn snapped back to his senses. "Just didn't expect to see you guys home so soon-couldn't you have called?"

"Oh we were going to dear, but we wanted to surprise you two," Carole gave her son a tight squeeze. "There's been a lot on our minds lately, so we had to think some things through and here we are!"

"Mom, what if we were doing something-important?" Finn asked, his face tense.

"Well dear," Carole said, noticing the tension in her son's face. "No one's stopping you from carrying about your business." _Yeah, right, _Finn thought. "Well, I'm going to bring my things upstairs to the guest room," Carole began to pick up her things. "You boys just, make yourselves comfortable, we'll all sit down for a good talk as soon as Burt and I are finished un-packing."

Kurt and Finn looked at each other before heading into the living room and sitting on the couch.

"Well, now or never," Kurt said softly to Finn.

"I know," Finn had a blank stare on his face. "What if they come downstairs and tell us they've set a date to get married? Do we even tell them about...us?"

"I don't know," Kurt replied, shaking his head. "I didn't know that we would have so little time to deal with this."

Both boys sat in silence for the next 10 minutes, before Carole and Burt walked into the room. Burt took a seat in his recliner, letting out a sigh and fidgeted in the chair, trying to find that one perfect spot that would ease his travelling pains. Carole sat comfortably on the edge of the loveseat in the room, her legs neatly crossed, her posture aligned, hands folded in her lap, facing the boys.

"So," Burt broke the short silence. "House looks nice, you guys kept up with cleaning it, always a good thing."

"Did you boys do anything fun while we were gone?" Carole almost immediately broke into the conversation. "I hope you weren't stuck inside cleaning the whole time we were gone."

"We got out of the house a few times," Finn said, blandly. "Nothing really out of the ordinary." Finn glanced at Kurt after he said that, Kurt was looking down at the floor.

"Did you guys hang out with your friends from Glee club or something?" Burt seemed to be directing the question at Kurt, as if he noticed that Kurt was looking down this entire time.

"Yeah," Kurt said, clearing his throat. "Yeah Dad, it was really fun. Finn made dinner tonight, it was really good."

"Good," Burt nodded, still looking over at his son, as if he suspected something. "Well Finn, Kurt, I'm glad you guys had some fun and didn't burn the house to the ground. I think I'm going to go get a beer."

"Burt," Carole said, staring down Burt Hummel before he could even get up from his chair. "We're going to have to tell them sooner or later, we might as well just get it all out now while we have their attention."

"Tell us what?" Kurt asked, looking up, his eyes wide as if he dreaded what they were about to tell them. Finn, however, could tell something was up with his Mom, something about how she sat in a different chair, and how her posture was somewhat firm instead of the relaxed normal feeling she had around Burt Hummel normally.

Burt let out a breath and sat back down in his chair, adjusting his sitting position again, and again before Carole glanced at him and he sat up and faced the boys. With both sets of eyes from their parents staring at them, it was an intense moment for Kurt and Finn, who were already tense enough with their own things to tell their parents.

"Burt and I," Carole started, taking a small moment to pause to see if she could word it nicer before realizing she couldn't. "We've decided...we talked about it and...the whole reason we took this vacation was to-"

"We've decided to see other people," Burt cut in, noticing Carole's inability to finish her thought. Finn and Kurt blinked, not sure how to take this news since it held both positive and negative emotions attached to it.

"What do you mean?" Kurt went with his first reaction, which surprised Finn, who was thinking that things were at least looking up for them. "I thought you guys were in the prime of your dating, talking about marriage and becoming a family? Dad, you yelled at Finn and put so much pressure on him to be more of a 'brother' to me, and now it's not working out for you two?"

"Now son," Burt chuckled leaned forward and patted Kurt's shoulders. "I know you would like to have taken the credit for setting Carole and I up, and it does go to you. Just because it ultimately failed does not mean you're a bad match maker. Sometimes, things just don't work out the way we plan them to and we just need to test the waters and see if they are safe enough for us to swim in."

"Oh please, that's a tired old cliché!" Kurt said, eyes wide. "There's no way you guys were all good and going off on a vacation, then you come home and suddenly, it's not working out and you're seeing other people. That's what doesn't work here."

"Well, we didn't want to tell you this before we left," Carole was finally able to put her words into complete phrases. "The reason we took this vacation was to see how we would interact living together. And-"

"-And we're just too different," Burt cut in again. "Carole is adventurous, she wants to see the sights, and take a million pictures and scrapbook about them for hours back at the house."

"And Burt wants to stay inside, leave all the doors unlocked which I don't have to explain how dangerous that is, drink a beer and talk about how a car engine can relate to every facet of life."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to get outside of the house and take a random trip to see Niagra Falls," Burt began.

"And there's nothing wrong with being an intelligent business man who has passion for life and car engines," Carole continued, laughing slightly, looking over at Burt.

"We're just too different people with different goals and different wants and needs," Burt said, smiling back at Carole. "It doesn't mean we don't care about each other, it just means that we can't live together."

There seemed to be a silence that permeated with awkward feelings that stood in the air for a good five minutes before Finn broke the silence.

"I think what Kurt and I are trying to absorb here is that we've all been living together for a while, why did you guys tell us about this before?"

"We always had different things going on," Carole replied, reaching over and placing her hand on Finn's. "We had work, you two had school. We had to take this trip to see what life would be like when you two are out of the house, out living your lives, and we are both here, by ourselves and living out our golden years."

"Bottom line is that it just wouldn't work out," Burt said, trying to gently put his foot down without crushing the boys' spirits. "Finn, I still would appreciate it if you would look after Kurt, and still be his in his life if he ever needs a guy to talk to about...things...whatever it is you kids talk about these days."

"Where will we live?" Finn asked the question as soon as it popped into his head, looking at his mother. "We sold our old house to move in here, are we going to have to pack up all our stuff again and find a different place to live?"

"You and your mom will be staying here," Burt replied, looking over at Carole. "At least until you guys can find another place you can afford. Your Mom always liked the feel of the guest room, so I said she could have it until you guys could find another place, as long as you don't mind staying in the basement for a while longer, Finn," Finn shook his head, and again as if for emphasis. "And I told your Mom you're both welcome here any time, this place is always open, since Kurt and I can't seem to remember to lock the doors."

"Or the windows," Carole laughed, and Burt chuckled along with her, as if they were good friends having some good playful banter.

"Does that mean eventually I would have to leave?" Finn asked, and both adults got a small laugh out of his comment, before realizing he was serious and looking at the boys with confusion.

"What do you mean, honey?" Carole asked, her eyes seemed to be disecting Finn, taking him apart to find out what was really going on inside of him.

"I mean just that," Finn said, trying to sound serious. "Does this mean that if you find another place for us to move, I have to move out and leave...everything I've gotten used to here..."

"Well, we figured you would realize that it would mean that," Carole said, smiling but still wondering what her son was up to. "I mean Finn, dear, I know it's a lot to adjust to after just having to adjust to things here, but-"

"-but we figured you two would be able to be good friends and live apart," Burt said, as he stared at Kurt with the same confusion and same careful gaze. "I mean, like I said Finn," Burt turned slightly to look Finn directly in the eyes, causing Finn to blink as if now he felt both sets of eyes closing in on him. "You are welcome here any time, but it's not like I can charge you rent or anything to stay here." Burt chuckled at the last part, trying to joke around and lighten the mood.

"Yes you can," Finn said, completely missing the joking tone in Burt's voice.

"Finn, honey," Carole, went over and sat on the edge of the sofa, patting Finn on the back. "You can't just invite yourself to live in Burt's house."

"Why not?" Finn looked around from one parent to the other. "If I'm paying rent, helping Burt around the house or at the business, doing anything that Kurt can't do because he isn't interested or is too small to do, no offense Kurt."

"None taken," Kurt said arching an eyebrow at Finn.

"Finn, I really appreciate you wanting to stay and help me at the car shop," Burt said, looking at Finn. "But I can't take you away from your mother, she needs you to with her, to be that man in charge in her life-"

"-well let's not get carried away Burt," Carole broke in. "Finn, you have done so much and made sure I was happy after your father died, but sweety, if there's something you need to tell me, it's ok. All this talk of staying here with Burt and Kurt makes me think that maybe you're scared to leave all your friends," Finn raised his eyebrows, did she almost pick up on what he was hiding before heading in the opposite direction with it? "Finn, honey, you know I would let you finish out high school here." Carole rubbed Finn's arm, trying to comfort him.

"It's not that," Finn said abruptly. "I mean, I'm glad you don't wanna move too far away Mom...it's just, I don't want to leave _this_. I don't want to leave what I have here, I like it."

"So maybe we can visit once in a while," Carole tried to pacify her son, looking at Burt who nodded as if to say he was all for the idea.

"That won't be enough for me," Finn said, shaking his head. "I like my new house, I like my bed...I like Kurt." Finn couldn't believe he just blurted that out. Looking over at Kurt, who was a deep shade of red, his eyes gazing wildly at Finn's.

"Well, I'm glad," Carole said, still not picking up completely on what Finn meant. "I'm sure you will see Kurt at school and both he and Burt will be welcome at our new apartment, but Finn, honey, we will still be staying here until then-"

"No Mom," Finn looked his mother straight in the eye. "I don't think you get it. I like Kurt. I really like him Mom...I want to be with him, like, his boyfriend."

The moment it finally clicked, Carole's face went blank, as if she was sent into orbit and was slowly circling the earth, trying to pick up a satellite signal. Burt, on the other hand, was staring at Kurt, as if to believe his son had some supernatural power to turn straight boys gay.

"Well, Finn...honey," Carole finally had her feet planted on solid ground after a couple minutes of silence. "You know I love you and I support you no matter what, but I have to ask this...are you sure you are gay?"

"I'm not gay," Finn said, almost immediately, causing Burt to arch an eyebrow as if to say 'oh, really?', but Finn just brushed it off. "I'm not gay, but I like Kurt. I still like girls, at least, I think I do...I don't know," Finn threw his hands up in the air. "I don't know what I am, but I'm in no rush to label myself so for now I'm telling you I like Kurt, I really like him."

"Well of course I'm here to support you," Carole said, nodding her head and trying to be as supportive as she could with all of the information she had to take in. "I guess I'm just shocked this happened in the time we were gone. I'm not saying that's bad, just saying, it's a bit surprising is all."

"Surprising like you guys telling us that after living together and talk of marriage that all of a sudden it's not working out?" Finn asked, not wanting to be rude to his mother, but asking a serious question. Nevertheless, Finn knew that his tone of voice was less than polite, and he braced himself for his mom to come back and scold him.

"Fair enough," Burt said after being quiet through most of this part of the conversation. "I didn't know you...'swung that way' Finn, but if you're happy with my son, then..."

"Dad..." Kurt looked at his Dad, knowing that this was hard for him to take in, too.

"You're my son, Kurt," Burt said, looking over to Kurt. "I want you to be happy. You had a crush on Finn, he turned you away, called you some names. I just want you to be happy though, and if Finn makes you happy and Finn is sure he feels this way about you—-"

"More than anything," Finn said, looking directly at Burt. "I care so much for Kurt, I don't want to have to leave him behind and only see him during school and a couple days out of the week. I want to be near him as often as I can, even if it just means I'm there for him just if he needs me to be...at least then I'll be there, I can be happy with just being with him." Finn smiled, and Kurt almost felt the tears welling up in his eyes, but he just couldn't help from smiling back at Finn. Reaching out his hand slowly, Kurt took Finn's hand in his, interlacing their fingers and giving Finn's hand a tight squeeze.

"Well," Carole looked at her son and Kurt. "I guess maybe this means we're gonna be a family after all." Everyone in the room shared in a good laugh, and Carole smiled and stroked Finn's head, as if she was still caring for her little boy. "I'm so proud of you," she said, smiling at her son. "I'm so glad you could feel comfortable telling us this...it does mean we might have to think of what we will be doing when we move out, I'm still taking you with me," Carole held up her hand, seeing Finn's reaction. "I still need my son in my life, but I'm sure that if you and Kurt are still feeling this way when the time comes, we can work something out with Burt with you coming over a few times a week, or Kurt can come to see us. We will figure all that out when the time comes, though." Carole leaned forward and kissed her son's forhead before getting up. "Well," she said, stretching ever-so-slightly and smiling. "I'm tired from our trip and all this..information. I'm going to go to bed, I will see you all in the morning."

"I'll be doing the same thing," Burt said, getting up and walking over towards where Carole was standing. "I'm happy you boys are happy, just...look out for each other." Burt gave Kurt a hug and stopped at Finn. Looking down at the quarterback, Burt seemed to be trying to read Finn, making sure he wasn't up to anything that would hurt Kurt in any way. Burt seemed subdued when Carole put her hand on his shoulder, and he clapped Finn on the back a few times before heading up the stairs to his room, Carole following and heading to the guest room.

The two boys sat on the couch, neither one moving, their hands still intertwined in each other's, their eyes looking from where Burt sat, to where Carole was sitting, to each other.

"Did that actually just happen?" Finn asked, as if confused.

"It did," Kurt said, squeezing Finn's hand. "It was really fast, and I think we might have confused the hell out of your mom and my dad, but it definitely did just happen."

"So...we can still be together, right? There aren't any questions involving that fancy 's' word you used before?"

"No," Kurt giggled. "No, 'semantics' don't have anything to do with it now because our parents aren't dating anymore." Noticing he was smiling and giggling, Kurt stopped. Why would be feel happy about his Dad's situation?

"It's like you said," Finn looked at him, grinning from ear to ear. "It's not that we didn't want our parents to be happy with each other, we just wanted to be together. So, we're not happy they broke up, we're just happy that we can still like each other without it being all creepy 'brother-on-brother' stuff."

"Woah, we are not even approaching the anything 'on' anything else stage yet Hudson," Kurt laughed, moving closer to Finn. "I'm a classy lady, you can't just expect to be tapping this for free."

"Oh really?" Finn put an arm around Kurt and swung him over so that he was laying in Finn's lap. "I don't know any classy ladies who refer to sex as 'tapping that', Hummel." Kurt laughed and gazed up at Finn. Finn leaned down, his big beautiful eyes gazing into Kurt's, and tenderly kissed the soft lips of the boy in his lap. As he pulled away, an idea popped into Finn's head.

"I know you're a classy lady and all," Finn said, looking down at Kurt. "But maybe now that we're as close to 'official' as we can be at home, we can push the beds together...what do you say?" Kurt giggled.

"I say you seem to want to get ahead of yourself," Kurt looked up at Finn as he said this. "But I guess it doesn't mean we can't try it out for a night or two."

Burt seemed to appear out of nowhere as Kurt got up to head down to the bedroom.

"Forgot something," Burt gave a short reply to Kurt's glance. "Goodnight, son." Kurt hugged his father again and turned to smile at Finn, who gave him a lop-sided grin as he watched Kurt dissapear down to their room, getting up to follow him. Burt stuck a hand up, stopping Finn in his tracks. "Let's talk." Was all Burt offered, and Finn was getting tense. Did Burt really approve of the two boys dating or was he about to unload on Finn, telling him he didn't want him anywhere near his son. "Relax," Burt seemed to notice how tense Finn was getting. "I'm really happy for you guys Finn, but just because you both live in the same house, don't think there won't be rules around here."

"I completely understand," Finn said, trying to make the conversation go as quickly as possible so he could get downstairs to Kurt. Burt nodded, got up, and motioned for Finn to stay put as he went into the other room. Burt returned with two extra blankets, a pillow, and a smile on his face. Finn suddenly knew what Burt was going to tell him.

"I guess we know who is sleeping on the couch tonight." Burt said with a smile, handing Finn the blankets and pillow. "Think of it as I just gave you the tools to make your new bed."

**A/N:** Yay another chapter done! I really hope you guys liked it! Thanks a million to one of my best friends in the world (since elementary school!), and a very talented writer herself, Scorpion29—check out her account-She has read all my chapters and is currently serving as my Beta Reader, she is amazing! Please please PLEASE submit a review on the way out, Chapter 10 to follow after some reviews are posted! Thanks guys! :)


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